Democratic senators sharply criticized the head of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday over his pressure on broadcasters to take ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air, accusing him of politicizing a historically independent agency and infringing on First Amendment protections.
The confrontation unfolded during a contentious Senate Commerce Committee hearing that took an unusual turn when the FCC quietly removed the word “independent” from a section of its mission statement while the hearing was still underway.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr declined to disavow his comments about Kimmel and, under questioning, suggested the agency was not insulated from influence by President Donald Trump.
“The FCC is not an independent agency,” Carr said.
Pressed by Democrats on whether he viewed Trump as his boss or had taken direction from the president or his inner circle, Carr largely sidestepped the questions. He later emphasized his alignment with the administration.
“President Trump has designated me as chairman of the FCC,” Carr said. “I think it comes as no surprise that I’m aligned with President Trump on policy.”
Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., responded by citing the FCC’s own website, which at the time described the agency as an “independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.” Shortly afterward, lawmakers and staff noticed that the website had been updated, removing the word “independent” from the mission description.
The change drew immediate attention from Democrats, who said it underscored their concerns that the FCC was abandoning its traditional role as an autonomous regulator in favor of political loyalty.
The hearing unfolded against the backdrop of an aggressive posture by Trump toward the media in his second term. The president has filed lawsuits against outlets whose coverage he dislikes and has repeatedly threatened to revoke television broadcast licenses. Earlier Wednesday, Trump criticized NBC over an interview with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, writing on Truth Social that the network “should be ashamed of themselves.”
“The public airwaves, which these networks are using at no charge, should not be allowed to get away with this any longer,” Trump wrote. “They should be properly licensed, and pay significant amounts of money for using this very valuable public space.”
The 2½-hour hearing repeatedly returned to Carr’s response to Kimmel’s remarks about the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a Trump ally and prominent voice on the right. After those comments, Carr publicly criticized ABC and suggested the network could face increased regulatory scrutiny, language that some Democrats and media advocates compared to intimidation.
Carr defended his actions by saying he was enforcing existing laws that subject broadcast networks to stricter standards than cable or streaming platforms. He argued that the FCC had failed in recent years to uphold the “public interest standard” embedded in federal communications law.
“The FCC has walked away from enforcing the public interest standard,” Carr said.
Democrats rejected that explanation, accusing Carr of distorting the law to punish speech he and the administration oppose.
“You are weaponizing the public interest standard,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who called on Carr to resign.
Republican senators pushed back, accusing Democrats of selective outrage and pointing to what they described as First Amendment violations under former President Joe Biden. GOP members largely shifted the discussion to unrelated topics, including spectrum auctions, undersea cable infrastructure, algorithms and robocalls, spending little time on Carr’s comments about Kimmel.
Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had previously compared Carr’s remarks to those of a mob boss and called them “dangerous as hell.” On Wednesday, however, Cruz struck a notably softer tone, dismissing Kimmel as “tasteless” and “unfunny” while redirecting criticism toward the Biden administration. Carr echoed those points during the hearing.
“Joe Biden is no longer president,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., interjected at one point.
The hearing also included testimony from the FCC’s other commissioners. Anna M. Gomez, a Biden appointee, said the agency had damaged its standing as an expert, independent regulator.
“Nowhere is that departure more concerning than its actions to intimidate government critics, pressure media companies and challenge the boundaries of the First Amendment,” Gomez said.
Carr was nominated to the FCC by both Trump and Biden and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times. More recently, however, he has embraced increasingly conservative positions, including authoring a section on the FCC for “Project 2025,” a policy blueprint for reshaping the federal government in a second Trump term.
Since becoming chairman this year, Carr has opened separate investigations into all three major broadcast networks. After Kimmel’s comments about Kirk, Carr warned that broadcasters could face consequences if they failed to act, saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
While Cruz’s earlier criticism of those remarks was repeatedly cited by Democrats, Carr declined to address it directly when questioned by reporters after the hearing.
“I think the hearing went really well,” Carr said.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
