FCC Boss Speaks Out on Trump’s Attack On Kristen Welker in Fox News Interview

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is heeding the president’s call to punish NBC News’s Kristen Welker for questioning his record on midterm endorsements.

On Fox News’s The Sunday Briefing, anchor Peter Doocy asked Carr about the president’s attack on the Meet the Press moderator.

“President Trump was watching Meet The Press last Sunday. He did not like that the moderator said his record on endorsements was ‘mixed,'” Doocy said. “He said he was going to report Kristen Welker to the FCC for ‘rebuke or punishment.’ You are the FCC. Have you received this report?”

“Well, one thing that President Trump gets fundamentally is that broadcast TV is completely different than other forms of distribution, including cable,” Carr answered. “And, so many broadcasters right now, they want to break the deal that they cut with the American people. They get billions of dollars in taxpayer, effectively, subsidized distribution, and what they’re supposed to do in exchange is operate in the public interest, not some sort of narrow, partisan interest.”

“I think President Trump is over the target, and we’re looking at a lot of actions,” Carr continued. “For instance, there’s a lot of interest right now in fake polls that are out there. So, the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not airing fake polls, particularly if they’re done to suppress people heading into the fall.”

Welker, during a Meet The Press preview segment last Sunday on NBC’s Washington affiliate,  said:

He’s going to loom large over these midterms. There’s no doubt about that. He, of course, has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries. He’s had some mixed results, but most recently, his pick of Senator Darline Graham, of course, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, was successful in her primary battle, so now she takes on Dr. Annie Andrews in South Carolina.

Trump ripped Welker’s statement, writing on Truth Social, “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.

Just days earlier, Trump claimed on Truth Social, “My Endorsements are stronger than ever — Not to mention the fact that good people are getting elected that never had the chance! Here is an accurate list of the last number of seasons. There has never been anything close! It is an Honor that I take very seriously.”

Although Trump has more wins than losses, some 10 Trump-endorsed candidates have lost their primary battles this cycle.

In a statement provided to Mediaite last week after Trump’s attack, an NBC News spokesperson said, “Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her.”

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