Trump's FCC Threats Against the Press Keep Piling Up
President Trump said Sunday he plans to report NBC News' "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker to the Federal Communications Commission for "rebuke or punishment" — the latest example of the president using the FCC as a tool against reporters and networks whose coverage he dislikes.
What Trump Said
Trump made the threat in a Truth Social post on August 30, after Welker described his primary endorsement record as producing "mixed results" during a preview appearance on NBC's Washington, D.C., local affiliate. "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," Trump wrote, adding that recent Senate and House primary wins told a different story. "Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment."
Trump went on to directly call on FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to act, writing, "The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation, and I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously."
Welker's comment was backed up by NBC's own reporting, which noted that six Trump-backed candidates for House and governor lost their primaries earlier this month. Other outlets, including CNN, have similarly described Trump's recent endorsement record as mixed. Welker did not make the remark during Sunday's broadcast of "Meet the Press" itself — she made it earlier that day during a live preview appearance promoting the show.
NBC Responds
NBC News defended Welker in a statement. "Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her," a network spokesperson said. Welker had not publicly responded to Trump's post as of Sunday.
This isn't the first tense exchange between the two. Trump has criticized Welker repeatedly over the past several years, including storming out of an interview with her roughly two months ago, even as he has also sought her out for multiple interviews during that same stretch.
A Pattern, Not an Isolated Incident
Trump's threat against Welker fits into a broader pattern that has defined his second term: using the FCC's regulatory authority as leverage against news organizations covering him unfavorably.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, has repeatedly invoked the agency's rarely enforced "news distortion" policy against broadcasters. In March, Carr warned television broadcasters they could lose their licenses over what he called "hoaxes and news distortions" in their coverage of a U.S. strike related to the Iran conflict — despite the fact that the FCC does not regulate national news networks or their programming, only local broadcast station licenses. Carr has also opened an investigation into NBC's parent company, Comcast, over what he has described as "invidious forms of DEI discrimination," and the FCC is currently facing a lawsuit from Disney and ABC alleging the administration is trying to censor journalists by pushing an early review of ABC's broadcast licenses.
A bipartisan group of former FCC chairs and commissioners — including appointees under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Obama — has petitioned the agency to eliminate its news distortion policy altogether, arguing Carr has used it "as a weapon to control news content and suppress viewpoints the government disfavors." That petition escalated in recent months into a court filing seeking to force Carr's hand, with a federal appeals panel giving the FCC 30 days to respond.
The FCC's own guidelines state that its authority over news content is narrow. The agency says it "does not intervene in a broadcaster's selection and presentation of news or commentary" and can only investigate distortion claims involving significant, deliberately falsified events — not routine disagreements over characterization or opinion. Federal law also prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast material outright.
Why It Matters
Media law experts and former regulators across both parties have warned that using the news distortion policy this way — as a cudgel against unfavorable coverage rather than genuine falsification — raises serious First Amendment concerns, particularly with high-stakes midterm elections approaching. Critics argue the approach lets the FCC selectively pressure broadcasters based on the content of their reporting, something past chairs from both parties have said would violate free speech protections.
Whether Trump's threat against Welker leads to any formal FCC action remains to be seen — the agency has not historically pursued complaints rooted in subjective characterizations like "mixed results." But as part of a documented pattern of similar threats against ABC, CBS, and now NBC, the episode adds to an ongoing story about press freedom and regulatory power that is likely to keep developing regardless of this particular exchange's outcome.
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