FCC Chair Floats CBS License Pull as Legal 'Penalty'

Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, on Monday said that pulling CBS' broadcast license is a lawful "penalty," not a mere rhetorical warning, signaling an escalation in the administration's conflict with mainstream media, Mediaite reported.

Carr, appointed by President Donald Trump, told CNBC's Sara Eisen, "Over the years, the FCC has stepped back from enforcing that public interest obligation [under the Communications Act]. I think the FCC should do what Congress wants us to do and enforce those laws. We're going to see where this investigation goes."

Carr's remarks came after he reinstated complaints against CBS and NBC that had been dismissed under the Biden administration. The complaints were originally filed by Trump-aligned groups and rejected by the former FCC chair, who warned they could chill free speech.

Notably, Carr did not reinstate a similar complaint against Fox News.

Eisen pressed Carr on whether pulling a license would be an extreme move, asking: "So are you threatening to pull their license? Wouldn't that be a pretty drastic step?"

Carr replied, "Well, it's not a threat; that's a penalty that is in the Communications Act, and if you don't —" before Eisen interjected, "But when was the last time the FCC pulled a broadcast license?"

"Yeah, it's been a long time, and I think that's part of the issue. If you step back, you know trust in the national mainstream media is at an absolute low right now. That's not just my view. Jeff Bezos himself did an op-ed where he said that," Carr said.

"But what's really interesting is that actually local stations, local TV stations, have a lot of trust. And so the agenda that I'm trying to run at the FCC is to empower those actual local television stations to serve the public interest," he said.

Carr added that "because what we've seen is you've got national news media, ABC, NBC, CBS, and they're exercising more and more control over those local TV stations. I don't think that's a good thing for the country, so we're trying to reverse that."

The White House's official rapid response team posted the CNBC interview clip on X soon after it aired, signaling support for Carr's approach.

Carr also took to X to slam NBC for "misleading the American public" for trying to paint the alleged MS-13 gang veteran Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a nonthreatening "Maryland man."

Trump has intensified his criticism of CBS after recent coverage by "60 Minutes" that he deemed hostile. In a Truth Social post from mid-April, Trump wrote:

"Hopefully, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as headed by its Highly Respected Chairman, Brendan Carr, will impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial, for their unlawful and illegal behavior. CBS is out of control at levels never seen before, and they should pay a big price for this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Trump has repeatedly called for CBS to lose its broadcast license and has made similar threats against ABC News and MSNBC.

Trump is pursuing a $20 billion lawsuit against "60 Minutes" over how CBS edited Vice President Kamala Harris' word salad to make her look good during the 2024 presidential campaign. Paramount Global, CBS's parent company, began mediation in April to settle the suit. On April 18, Paramount's board discussed possible settlement terms, the Los Angeles Times reported.