President Trump on Friday said he disagreed with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over criticism of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr’s threat to take action against ABC, before late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air indefinitely.
Cruz said that Carr’s threat to take action against ABC sounded like something “right out of Goodfellas,” the classic mob movie, and “dangerous as hell.”
“Let me tell you if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you the media says. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like.’ That will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz warned on his podcast “Verdict.”
Trump defended the FCC chair, telling reporters in the Oval Office that Carr has acted courageously.
“I think Brendan Carr is a great American patriot, so I disagree with Ted Cruz on that,” the president said about the GOP senator.
“I think Brendan Carr’s a courageous person. I think Brendan Carr doesn’t like to see the airwaves be used illegal and incorrectly and purposefully horribly,” he added, without detailing what he saw was illegal about what the media broadcasts.
Trump also went on about what he saw as negative coverage of him and highlighted that despite that, he still won the election.
Carr, in an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, said ABC as a broadcast license-holder needs to keep the public interest in mind while bashing Kimmel’s comments on conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
