Donald Trump said US broadcast networks should face scrutiny over their licenses if they’re too critical of him, in what amounts to his furthest-reaching threat to media freedoms.
“When you have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
The president’s comments came as he defended ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s show indefinitely over the late-night host’s remarks about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. It also came days after he filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times.
The president and his Republican allies have long complained that America’s mainstream media is biased against conservatives. Trump has repeatedly called for CBS, ABC and NBC to get rid of late-night comedy hosts who are frequently critical of his administration.
Trump’s remarks represent a startling break with the nation’s long-standing traditions of freedom of speech and of the press enshrined in the US Constitution.
Congressional Republicans have largely either been silent on these matters olr backed the president. On Thursday, several key GOP lawmakers said the decision to take Kimmel off the air was ABC’s decision — not the FCC’s.
On Wednesday, Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network said it is taking Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely following a backlash from conservatives over the late-night host’s comments about Kirk’s alleged killer and whatever political orthodoxy that person may hold. Earlier Thursday, Trump backed ABC’s decision to remove Kimmel amid pressure from network affiliates who had said they were pulling the show.
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump said Thursday during his press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.”
Kimmel’s comments inflamed many conservative commentators and brought a rebuke from members of the Trump administration. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr told podcast host Benny Johnson that he had a strong case to punish Kimmel, ABC and Disney. The FCC grants licenses to broadcasters such as ABC and its affiliates.
Carr in an interview Thursday on Fox News said it was up to local TV stations to determine if programming they aired was in the public interest, but indicated that those decisions were open to scrutiny from his agency.
“We’re going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest,” Carr said. “And if broadcasters don’t like that simple solution, they can turn their license in to the FCC.”
The FCC controls the licenses of local television stations, but not television networks, which aren’t licensed.
Kimmel on Monday accused Republicans of using Kirk’s death to criticize their opponents. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” he said.
The suspension started with Wednesday’s broadcast, Disney said in a statement. The company announced the decision minutes after Nexstar Media Group Inc., which owns dozens of ABC TV affiliates, said it would pull the show indefinitely from its stations over remarks it cast as “offensive and insensitive.”
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have blamed Kirk’s killing on inflammatory leftist rhetoric and vowed to investigate left-leaning organizations in response. Individuals accused of celebrating his death or offering negative viewpoints of Kirk — a polarizing figure who took staunchly conservative stances on issues such as race and gender — have faced online vitriol and in some cases lost their jobs.
The moves have also come amid a broader assault by Trump on media organizations whose coverage he has been unhappy with. Last year, ABC agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump over comments made by host George Stephanopoulos. The president this week sued the New York Times Co. for $15 billion, claiming it has an agenda against him.
“This lawsuit has no merit. It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting. The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people,” the newspaper said in a statement posted on its website.
Those incidents have spurred worries among Trump critics about free speech in the US.
“The FCC’s role in overseeing the public airwaves does not give it the power to act as a roving press censor, targeting broadcasters based on their political commentary,” a group of Senate Democrats including Leader Chuck Schumer wrote Thursday in a letter to Carr. “But under your leadership, the FCC is being weaponized to do precisely that.”
And while most Republicans in Congress have lined up behind Trump, some cautioned against actions that could be seen as trying to use government power to influence speech. Senator Rand Paul said that while the First Amendment doesn’t prohibit companies from firing people for saying despicable things, “the FCC should not be involved.”
At the same time, conservatives have also assailed European leaders over efforts to rein in violent or hateful rhetoric, which they say unfairly target right-leaning views.
Starmer, in particular, has been the target of furious criticism from Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, and other leaders of the populist right over British efforts to restrict speech including a wave of arrests after anti-immigrant riots last year. Critics have zeroed in on Britain’s Online Safety Act, which was passed under the previous Conservative government in 2023, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticizing the law during an appearance before the US House Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
“This country’s had free speech for a very, very long time,” Starmer said Thursday during the press conference. “It is part of who we are as a country, and it is the values that we fought for. We fought for it during the Second World War, alongside each other. So we need no reminding of the importance of free speech in this country.”
Earlier this week, police in the UK arrested four men on suspicion of “malicious communications” after an image of Trump and the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was projected onto Windsor Castle to protest the US president’s visit.
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