Lawmaker, FCC commissioner clash over Trump call to strip ABC’s license

A House Democrat and senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission went head to head Thursday, Sept 19. Their argument was over former President Donald Trump’s call to strip ABC’s broadcast license following his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Since the debate on Sept. 10, Trump said ABC was dishonest for how the moderators handled the debate. Trump appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Gutfeld!” Wednesday, Sept. 18.

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“I think my only regret is that I wanted to be elegant, and I didn’t want to go after the anchors,” Trump said. “I wish I did, in a way.”

Representative Ro Khanna, D-Calif., questioned Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr about the comments Trump made after the debate. Khanna and Carr continued to talk over each other, while going back and forth.

“Let me try one last time, based on the debate, did you think that the questions were unfair or rigged in a way that calls for ABC’s license to be revoked the way President Trump has been very clear,” Khanna said. “I respect he’s very clear on his view. Do you agree or disagree with his view? It’s a yes or no.”

“I think my position has been very clear going back to 2017,” Carr responded. “I maintained a very consistent position, but if your concern is weaponization, we should talk about that. When President Biden stood at the White House podium and said Elon Musk is worth being looked at and then all of a sudden the FCC abruptly reversed is a 2020 decision to get him $885 million to bring broadband to 640,000 people. I think that’s concerning. When Democrats in Congress write letters to cable companies, ask him to drop Fox News because of the decisions. I think that’s concerning.”

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“I think you’ve seen from my record a consistent pattern of always basing my decisions at the FCC based on the law, the facts and the First Amendment,” Carr continued. “That’s what I’ve done. That’s what I’ll always do.”

ABC has not responded to Trump’s comments. This week, the network released viewership numbers, reporting that “World News Tonight with Daivd Muir” grew by 9% compared to the same time last year.