Trump Blasts '60 Minutes,' Hopes Carr Will Impose 'Maximum' Punishment
President Donald Trump blasted CBS' 60 Minutes in a social media post Sunday over its reporting, repeating his call for CBS to lose its “license” and saying he hopes FCC Chairman Brendan Carr will punish the network. The FCC doesn't license broadcast networks or TV programs. The post also mentioned Trump’s ongoing, private lawsuit against the network.
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“I am so honored to be suing 60 Minutes, CBS Fake News, and Paramount, over their fraudulent, beyond recognition, reporting,” said the post. “They are not a ‘News Show,’ but a dishonest Political Operative simply disguised as ‘News,’ and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing. They should lose their license!” Trump said “hopefully” the FCC -- “as headed by its Highly Respected Chairman, Brendan Carr” -- will impose maximum fines on the network. “CBS is out of control, at levels never seen before, and they should pay a big price for this.”
Carr “should reject President Trump’s call for content-based action against broadcast spectrum licenses,” said Joe Kane, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s director-broadband and spectrum policy. “The Commission should uphold the rule of law, not become a partisan tool to punish disfavored viewpoints.”
Press and free speech advocates also condemned Trump’s post. “This kind of social media activity is taking jawboning an agency head to a new level,” said the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s Robert Corn-Revere, formerly chief counsel to FCC Chairman James Quello. When past presidents such as Richard Nixon sought secretly to use FCC authority to influence coverage, “the pressure tactics were in the background, and something considered to be shameful,” Corn-Revere said. “This is being done by shouting it from the rooftops.”
Trump “has no understanding of, and doesn't care about, the proper role of the FCC,” said Freedom of the Press Foundation Director-Advocacy Seth Stern. Typically, an FCC chair could be expected to decline to use the agency against the administration’s critics, Stern said. Trump’s previous FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, did (see 1711010062). Carr has accused his predecessor, former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, of weaponizing the FCC against Elon Musk and others. “People who wear a golden bust of someone's face as a lapel pin generally have a hard time saying no to that person,” Stern said, referencing recent photos of Carr sporting a glistening Trump profile relief on his suit jacket.