The New York Times At 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, he broke the news that former President Trump had been indicted by a New York grand jury on allegations that he made $130,000 in payments to an adult film star just days before the 2016 presidential election.
It’s the first time a former US president has faced criminal charges, and the breaking news sent the cable and broadcast media into scrambling mode.
Fox News’ most-watched show, The Five, was live when Sandra Smithan FNC host who ironically filled in for the show’s regular co-host Dana Perinointerrupted the discussion to report breaking news.
“We just got the word: former president donald trump has been indicted by a grand jury in New York,” Smith said.
The announcement drew an audible gasp from at least one of his on-air colleagues.
Reactions were immediate, and Smith’s colleagues weren’t exactly pleased.
“It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” co-host Jesse Watters said “And I feel bad for the guy. He really wasn’t supposed to be president. He had a lot of money, he had a great life, and now they’re trying to get him for a private deal he made with a woman, what, ago eight years?
He added: “I’m angry about it. I don’t like it. The country won’t stand for it. And people better watch out. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”
Moderator of the network’s Sunday program Shannon Bream he said later in the evening that there are “scholars, there are experienced lawyers who say that what’s really going on here has no solid legal basis.”
He then added: “They’re warning Alvin Bragg, whether they’re on the left, the right or the center, you’re getting a great opportunity to get a conviction here. So take that opportunity, get the impeachment, go ahead, and if you don’t get a conviction, President Trump will again be able to point out, you used this very new theory that even the left didn’t think it was. going to work, so that shows that it wasn’t more how political. So there’s been caution and strong public opposition growing from legal experts and scholars on the left who say that this way it’s very unlikely that this case will succeed, but you have to convince a jury, made up of New Yorkers, we’ll see what they think.”
Fox News’ main political anchor Bret Baier offered an analysis of its own at 6 p.m.
“This is a big, big moment, and you’ve been talking about the political implications, but it’s also important to remember what didn’t happen with this charge originally,” Baier said. “The U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of New York decided to let go and not go down that road originally. The Federal Election Commission decided they didn’t want to go down that road in this investigation and they gave up. And Alvin Bragg himself, as U.S. Attorney for district, when he took office he decided to indefinitely suspend the investigation into Trump and then picked it up later. So the story wasn’t something I believe even staunch Democrats who want to see the former president impeached something, they didn’t think this was the best case they had, but we are where we are and this is unprecedented territory.”
Baier added that he expected to hear from the former president. “I’d like to make the call right now — if the former president wants to call, we’d like to have his reaction to this news tonight,” Baier said.
On CNN, Wolf Blitzer announced the news during the network’s flagship political program, The Situation Room. Blitzer told viewers it was “historic” news — the first time a former president had been indicted on criminal charges. It’s likely Blitzer’s most significant on-air moment since breaking the news in November 2020 that President Biden had won the 2020 presidential election.
CNN quickly convened a cavalcade cast of analysts, inside and outside, legal and political, to discuss the events.
In light of the breaking news, the 8:00 PM ET slot was turned into a live CNN special titled The Impeachment of Donald Trump, a program that was co-hosted by Anderson Cooper i Jake Tapper. The duo was joined in a studio in New York by a rotating cast of legal analysts and reporters.
Then, at 9:00 PM ET, CNN continued its previously scheduled live interview with the former vice president mike pence, moderated by Wolf Blitzer (what fortuitous timing!). Pence, predictably, was not pleased to learn of Trump’s accusation, calling it “an outrage” (among other things) during his meeting with Blitzer.
The news broke on MSNBC during Nicole Wallace’It’s 5 p.m. and, ironically, right before the network’s law-focused program The Beat Ari Melber. MSNBC’s chief legal correspondent who hosts the network’s 6 p.m. hour, Melber joined Wallace during his hour to break down the events in question, then on his own show warned viewers that they did not reach conclusions and let the judicial process unfold. However, he added that the former president “could literally be jailed.”
It’s all hands on deck at MSNBC. Rachel Maddowwho is usually off on Thursday, hosts The Rachel Maddow Show at 9 p.m Lawrence O’Donnell will continue to host the network’s 10:00 p.m. hour, Stephanie Ruhle is hosting two hours (11 p.m.-1 a.m. ET), as opposed to its usual one-hour late-night show. The network offers special live coverage from 12 to 5 a.m., with Ruhle leading the midnight hour, O’Donnell returning to host at 1 a.m. and then Ali Velshi doing the night shift (2-5am ET).
In terms of broadcast news, NBC, ABC and CBS entered regularly scheduled programming to report breaking news. The networks had correspondents posted all over Manhattan, out of the DA’s office in Lower Manhattan, Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Others were parked at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and near his plane at Palm Beach International Airport in nearby West Palm Beach.
Much of the television news coverage, as of press time, has focused on questions about what exactly the charges might be. Most of the charges are still unknown, although sources close to CNN, for example, said Trump faces 34 charges related to business fraud. Other topics of conversation included when Trump would be arraigned (which sources say will be Tuesday), as well as security preparations underway in Manhattan and elsewhere.
