MSNBC’s Brian Williams interrupted the network’s broadcast of Donald Trump’s speech from the White House in the early hours of Wednesday morning to point out that the president’s claims about already winning the 2020 election while millions of votes remained uncounted were “not based in the facts at all.”
Trump told supporters at the White House — many of whom were not wearing masks and sat closely side by side — that he’d won multiple states still to be declared, calling it a “fraud on the American public.”
“We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,” Trump claimed, adding: “We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list. It’s a very sad moment. We will win this, and as far as I’m concerned we already have won.”
Williams cut into Trump’s address for a swift fact-check of the president.
“We are reluctant to step in but duty-bound to point out when he says, ‘We did win this election, we’ve already won,’ that is not based in the facts at all,” Williams said.
Minutes later, Williams’s MSNBC colleague Joy Reid highlighted that Trump’s comments were simply “entertainment” and “have no legal meaning.”
“The election ends when all the votes are counted,” she said.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow expressed her surprise at the address, describing it as “a campaign event in the White House.”
Check out the video here:
NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie similarly cut into the speech:
ABC News also cut away, reported Mediaite.
CBS News, meanwhile, ran a chyron that said: “CBS News is not projecting a winner in the presidential race.”