Trump suggests FCC reexamine licenses amid fallout over preemption of Jimmy Kimmel
President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested the Federal Communications Commission reexamine licenses for television networks that repeatedly criticize him.
"They give me only bad publicity or press," Trump said on Air Force One on Thursday. "And I mean, they're getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr."
Trump praised Carr, the FCC chair, calling him "outstanding" and a "patriot."
The comments came one day after ABC preempted Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show "indefinitely" following comments Kimmel made after the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Before the network's decision was announced on Wednesday evening, Carr had called for Kimmel's suspension over the comments.
Trump earlier Thursday spoke about Kimmel during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in response to a question about free speech, claiming Kimmel was fired.
Carr weighed in on Kimmel being preempted during an appearance on CNBC on Thursday morning.
"This is a very significant moment because local broadcasters are now pushing back on national programmers for the first time that I can think of in modern history. That's one of the things we want at the FCC. We want to empower local broadcasters that have the public interest obligation to push back on national programmers so that people have more choice," Carr said.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats called for the FCC's Carr to resign and one tried to subpoena him to testify.
"He has disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC, the employer of Jimmy Kimmel, and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration," House Democratic leaders said about Carr in a statement.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna moved to subpoena Carr to appear before the House Oversight Committee, an effort Khanna said was to "stop the intimidation of private businesses and to stand up for the First Amendment."
The House panel tabled Khanna's motion in a 24-21 vote, but the committee leaders said they'd try to have Carr testify voluntarily.
"It's of interest to both the majority and the minority, and so we're going to try to move forward in a bipartisan way," said Rep. Robert Garcia, the panel's top Democrat. Garcia also said he is launching an investigation into the Trump administration, ABC and Sinclair over Kimmel.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican, said he believed Carr would "be willing to come in to testify."
Though House Speaker Mike Johnson, when asked about Kimmel, said it wasn't something for Congress to get involved in.
"What I do know is that ABC is a private company and they could make their own choices on who they want to wear their brand, so to speak. So this is a matter of ABC's leadership. It doesn't have anything to do with Congress or anything we're doing here," Johnson said.
