‘trump’s Roving Censor’: Top Senate Democrats Demand Brendan Carr End Disney Review

A dozen senior Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, on Thursday demanded that FCC Chair Brendan Carr immediately rescind his order hauling in Disney’s broadcast licenses for early review.

The letter, led by Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, called the review a “blatant effort” to punish Disney, which owns ABC, for refusing to acquiesce to President Donald Trump’s demand to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he made about the president. Carr, who announced the review a day after Trump’s demand, has said it’s the result of the agency’s year-long investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices, a claim rejected by Democrats.

“This order is the latest and most extreme step in your use of the FCC’s licensing authority as a cudgel against broadcasters whose editorial choices displease the President,” the Senate Democrats wrote. “You have effectively converted the FCC’s authority over the public airwaves into an instrument of presidential retribution against constitutionally protected speech.”

“Although the FCC has the authority to ensure broadcasters operate in the public interest, it cannot serve as President Trump’s roving censor, threatening to revoke licenses against broadcasters whose editorial content — including a comedian’s jokes — displeases the President,” the letter adds.

The letter marks the latest Democratic outcry over Carr’s order, and could signal aggressive oversight of the FCC if the party wins control of either chamber of Congress in the November midterm elections. The tensions follow more than a year of Democratic, and at times Republican, backlash about Carr’s aggressive approach to media companies, which has included threatening investigations for alleged news distortion and heightening scrutiny of daytime and late-night TV.

FCC and White House spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Thursday’s letter includes signatures from senior Democrats who oversee the FCC, including Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Ben Ray Luján, the top Democrat on Commerce’s telecom subcommittee. Others signing the letter include Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate Democrats’ chair of outreach; Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), vice chair of the Democratic conference; and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the chief deputy whip.

The letter asks Carr to respond by May 21 to questions about the FCC’s legal analysis and what contact it had with the White House ahead of hauling the licenses in for an early review.

Carr called up the license renewals for Disney’s eight ABC TV stations on April 28, years ahead of schedule, alarming many in Washington over the possible motivations of the unusual move. Some Republicans, including Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have questioned Carr’s motives. The National Association of Broadcasters, which includes Disney as a member, said the action creates significant marketplace uncertainty.

At issue is not only Carr’s unusual use of the FCC’s licensing powers but the timing of the review, which was announced immediately after the president and Melania Trump called on ABC to fire Kimmel over his jokes that the first lady glowed like “an expectant widow” days before a man stormed the White House Correspondents Association dinner in an alleged attempt to assassinate the president. Kimmel has called his remarks a joke about the couple’s 24-year age difference.

Carr isn’t backing down on his Disney investigation despite the criticism.

“I don’t think it was any sort of bolt out of the blue,” the FCC chair told reporters on Wednesday. “I’ve been talking about this particular matter for a long time and making it very clear that if it wasn’t progressing in the way we liked, this was a remedy that would be available to the commission.”

Carr told POLITICO he views the early license renewal powers — which the FCC generally hasn’t invoked in decades — as a key tool for enforcing the broadcast standards. He noted the agency also called for early license reviews in two lower-profile incidents last week.

“Maybe there’ll be more, as they come up, as appropriate — these are going to be remedies the FCC has,” Carr said. “And there could very well be more of these.”