Top E&C Democrats Demand Accountability from Carr After Retaliation Against Disney for Jimmy Kimmel Joke

Top Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats wrote to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr today condemning his ongoing attempts to chill speech and weaponize the agency against any criticism of President Trump – including Chairman Carr’s recent, unprecedented order requiring that Disney and its eight broadcast stations file to renew their licenses early, years ahead of their original schedule.

Today’s letter was sent from Full Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY).

“This is a flagrant political move on your part, given that the earliest license renewal is not due until 2028, and some not even due until 2031,” the three Committee leaders wrote in their letter to Carr. “Instead of carrying out the work of the FCC as an independent agency, you have again decided to use the FCC as a weapon to punish protected speech at the behest of the President and, this time, the First Lady.”

Carr’s most recent abuse of power comes as retaliation for a joke made by Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on April 23.

“Any effort on your part to revoke Disney’s licenses on the basis of protected speech will fail, which you well know,” Pallone, Matsui, and Clarke continued. “Instead, this is a blatant attempt to hold your investigation and license renewal proceedings over the heads of Disney executives in an effort to chill future speech on news and entertainment programs at Disney and across the entire industry. And while you do so, you not only violate the FCC’s prohibition on censorship, but you also waste taxpayer dollars that fund this crusade and the time and expertise of the FCC career staff tasked with carrying it out.”

The three Democratic Committee leaders wrote that Carr is on a transparently partisan crusade against media figures and companies that Trump does not like, pointing to Carr’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference as further evidence. There, the FCC Chairman openly celebrated that “PBS, defunded. NPR, defunded. Joy Reid, gone from MSNBC. Sleepy-eyes Chuck Todd, gone. Jim Acosta, gone. John Dickerson, gone… Stephen Colbert is leaving. CBS is under new ownership. And soon enough, CNN is going to have new ownership as well… President Trump is winning.”  

Pallone, Matsui, and Clarke also pointed toward Carr’s manipulation of his news distortion policy and conveniently cherry-picked investigations. They wrote that Carr makes only selective threats and investigations, having reopened three of the four previously closed news distortion complaints against ABC, NBC, and CBS, while notably letting Fox off the hook – even after Fox News Sunday aired inaccurate coverage of Trump attending a transfer ceremony for six soldiers killed in Kuwait due to the war in Iran. Carr’s blatant inconsistencies prove his complaints have nothing to do with the public interest.

“Since assuming the role of Chairman, you have weaponized the agency against news outlets by not only questioning the speech and expressive conduct of targeted entities but also by abusing your power to formally accuse these speakers of wrongdoing,” Pallone, Matsui, and Clarke wrote. “These actions assault the freedom of the press and violate the FCC’s statutory prohibition against censorship.”

The Democratic Committee leaders concluded by demanding documents and answers to a series of questions no later than May 14, including:

• An explanation of Carr’s decision to order the early license renewal of Disney ABC stations, including what relevant issues he purportedly found in his ongoing investigation of Disney;
• What led to Carr’s decision to reverse long-standing FCC policy and subject daytime and late-night talk shows to the equal time rule, including all documents related to the decision and an explanation behind the rationale for issuing this change without formal rulemaking;
• A detailed explanation of Carr’s interpretation of the “public interest standard” and the FCC’s authority to enforce Carr’s interpretation;
• What criteria Carr uses to determine whether a program is “motivated by a partisan purpose”; and
• All records related to travel to Trump’s personal residence in Florida, including itineraries for that travel, participants in meetings, and detailed receipts of all associated costs paid or reimbursed by the FCC.

The full letter can be found HERE. 

###