President Donald Trump is once again calling on the federal government to punish a news organization over coverage he doesn’t like — this time targeting NBC’s Kristen Welker for describing his recent political endorsements as having “mixed results.”
In a lengthy Truth Social post Sunday morning, Trump attacked the “Meet the Press” moderator as the “Unpopular ‘Hostess’” of what he called “Meet the Fake Press” and accused her of deliberately misrepresenting his success in Republican primary races.
“Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” Trump wrote, specifically calling on Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to act.
Minutes prior, Trump wrote another post attacking unfavorable polling.
The FCC’s own guidelines, however, make clear that its authority over news coverage is extremely limited. The agency says it “does not intervene in a broadcaster’s selection and presentation of news or commentary” and can investigate news distortion only when there is evidence that a broadcaster deliberately distorted a factual news report. The FCC also notes that federal law prohibits the agency from censoring broadcast material.
Trump has attacked journalists and news organizations since his first presidential campaign, frequently labeling critical coverage “fake news” and singling out individual reporters by name.
But during his second term, those attacks have increasingly been accompanied by demands for government action against the outlets responsible.
The administration and Carr’s FCC have repeatedly clashed with major broadcasters over their news and entertainment programming. Last year, ABC temporarily suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after Carr publicly suggested broadcasters could face consequences over Kimmel’s comments and encouraged affiliates to push back against the network. The network is currently suing the FCC for attempts to revoke its broadcasting licenses.
CBS and its parent company Paramount also faced scrutiny from the administration while seeking FCC approval for Paramount’s merger with Skydance. Paramount ultimately paid $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS later canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” citing financial reasons, shortly after Colbert criticized the settlement.
Earlier this year, Carr threatened broadcasters with the potential loss of their licenses amid Trump’s complaints about coverage of the war in Iran, arguing that broadcast licenses are not a “property right.”
Carr’s approach has drawn criticism from former FCC officials from both parties, who have accused the chairman of using the agency’s rarely invoked “news distortion” policy to pressure broadcasters over their journalism. A bipartisan group of former commissioners and senior FCC officials has petitioned the agency to eliminate the policy, warning that it could be used to punish outlets for coverage a presidential administration dislikes.
Federal law prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcasters, and the First Amendment sharply limits the government’s ability to punish news organizations for their editorial decisions.
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Trump’s latest complaint centered on Welker’s description of his endorsement record. Trump claimed a 100% success rate in Senate races and 98% in House races, calling his endorsement record “the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics.”
He offered no similar ambiguity about what he believed should happen when a journalist characterized that record differently.
“She will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” Trump wrote.
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