Networks should demand to see Trump's speech in advance -- and refuse to air it if it's filled with lies: CNN analyst

CNN analyst Joe Lockhart, who previously served as White House press secretary under former President Bill Clinton, said on Monday that networks should refuse to air President Donald Trump's planned prime-time address to the nation if it's filled with lies.

Given the way the Trump administration has been willing to push easily refutable lies in its efforts to sell Americans on the necessity of building the border wall, Lockhart said that networks owed it to their viewers to make sure that the president doesn't peddle these kinds of lies in an address to the nation where no one would be able to correct him in real time.

"Sounds like TV networks will get a request soon for airtime for a Presidential address," Lockhart wrote on Twitter. "Some advice -- demand to see the text in advance and if it is not truthful, either don’t air it or fact-check it live on lower third."

Lockhart also recommended that networks "cut away if he goes off text and starts lying" during his address, as the president has been known to improvise from prepared remarks in the past.

Lockhart went on to point out that networks get the president's State of the Union address in advance, which means that requesting the text of his planned prime-time address isn't really breaking new ground.