Trump to pitch border wall in prime-time speech

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump will speak to the nation from the Oval Office on Tuesday to make his case for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. A dispute over funding the wall sparked a budget crisis and a partial government shutdown, now in its 18th day. If the shutdown stretches to this weekend, it will mark the longest in history.

All of the major broadcast and cable news networks have agreed to carry the prime-time address Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST. The speech, expected to last about eight minutes, will be the president’s first televised address from the Oval Office. On Thursday, he will visit the southern border to highlight what the administration is calling a “national security and humanitarian crisis.”

In a joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded TV networks give equal air time to Democrats to respond to the address, but it is unclear whether they will do so.

TV networks do not always air presidential addresses on controversial subjects. In 2006, they carried President George W. Bush’s prime-time speech on immigration but declined to carry President Barack Obama’s address in 2014, deeming it too political.