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Trump tells FCC to punish journalist for calling his election results "mixed"
Trump furious at NBC’s Kristen Welker for saying he had mixed results in primary endorsements.
President Trump yesterday demanded that the Federal Communications Commission punish or rebuke an NBC journalist for saying he has “mixed results” in his election endorsements. In the latest example of how Trump is using the FCC to harass reporters and news organizations that he dislikes, he said Meet the Press host Kristen Welker “will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment” for what he claimed was a “purposeful inaccuracy.”
“Kristen Welker, the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results’ on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House, recently and over the longterm. How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
A separate post from Trump yesterday said, “THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE! President DJT.” Trump also posted a rant on Friday about New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, calling her “an unattractive person both inside and out” who “should be forced to turn over any and all money that she’s made through her fake reporting on me.” Trump referred to Haberman throughout his post as “Maggot Haberman.”
Trump’s post about Welker included an image purporting to show he has near-perfect results in his endorsements this year. “The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation, and I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously,” Trump wrote.
Perhaps indicating that he will refer additional journalists for FCC punishment, Trump wrote that Welker “is not the only one. The Radical Left News is going out of their way to harass, demean, and libel anything ‘TRUMP.’”
The idea of the FCC punishing reporters for basic analysis of election results would have seemed far-fetched in previous administrations. The FCC website says the commission “cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view,” and that it “generally will not intervene” in complaints about “one-sided news reports” because “it would be inconsistent with the First Amendment to replace the journalistic judgment of licensees with our own.”
Even during Trump’s first term, then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said that under the First Amendment, “the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast.” Pai made the comment less than a week after Trump called on the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses from NBC and other networks for “fake news.”
An FCC investigation of Welker over an ordinary statement about election results seems much less far-fetched under Carr, who has embraced his role as Trump’s chief censor. Carr has made it clear he takes orders from Trump, abandoning his previous position—which he held under Democratic presidents—that the FCC must operate independently of White House interference.
Welker said in an appearance on NBC 4 Washington that Trump “has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries” and that “he’s had some mixed results but most recently his pick of Senator Darline Graham, of course the sister of the late Senator Lindsay Graham, was successful in her primary battle.” Trump’s post attacking Welker claimed that “the story of [Graham’s] Victory was hardly covered by anybody,” despite Welker mentioning it in the very statement that triggered Trump’s wrath.