FCC Chair Brendan Carr is Target for Congressional Oversight If Dems Defy Odds, Take Senate
This is your TPM evening briefing.
The people who pay attention to this stuff — both the experts and people like you and me — have been skeptical of claims that Democrats will eke out a path to retaking the Senate in the fall. Regardless, and as they should, Democrats are beginning to look ahead to what they’d do with Senate control.
We got another look at that today, as a dozen senior Senate Democrats are now previewing what could lie ahead for Brendan Carr should Democrats find a way to take back the upper chamber in November.
Carr, the Federal Communications Commission chair, has been using his post to serve as Trump’s “roving censor,” as he repeatedly threatens broadcasters that allow narratives on the airwaves that run counter to the White House’s agenda. He’s threatened to conduct reviews of broadcasters’ operating licenses in response to Trump’s displeasure with various news outlets’ coverage of his war with Iran. He’s opened investigations related to talk show hosts interviewing Democratic candidates on their shows. He’s repeatedly threatened Disney, which owns ABC, for allowing Jimmy Kimmel to continue to have a job after the comedian made jokes about Trump. He recently ordered that Disney’s broadcast licenses be dragged in for an early review, officially over it’s DEI policies, though the move appears to be, in reality, prompted by the administration’s latest tension with Kimmel.
This is all to say that, as much as anyone in the administration, Carr has been creative and aggressive as he uses his post for Trumpian retribution, seeking to censor the information that Americans consume and carry out Trump’s years-long vendetta against the news media.
A group of senior Senate Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), sent a letter to Carr on Thursday demanding Carr cancel his order to review Disney’s licenses.
“This order is the latest and most extreme step in your use of the FCC’s licensing authority as a cudgel against broadcasters whose editorial choices displease the President,” they wrote. “You have effectively converted the FCC’s authority over the public airwaves into an instrument of presidential retribution against constitutionally protected speech.”
“Although the FCC has the authority to ensure broadcasters operate in the public interest, it cannot serve as President Trump’s roving censor, threatening to revoke licenses against broadcasters whose editorial content — including a comedian’s jokes — displeases the President,” the letter continues.
Democrats ask Carr to respond to their demands by May 21, and answer questions about what contact Carr had with the White House before the order was made.
While the letter foreshadows how Dems might conduct oversight of the agency should they win back a majority in either chamber, backlash to Carr’s various blatant retribution schemes has been bipartisan. “I think the federal government and the FCC probably shouldn’t be involved with regulating humor,” Sen. Rand Paul told Politico. Even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has questioned Carr’s latest actions.
“I have been very clear for a long time that the federal government should not engage in censorship, that it is not the FCC’s role to be the speech police,” said Cruz, who sits on the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC.
More Dem Oversight: Pardon Edition
Senate and House Democrats have launched an investigation into whether pardons and commutations issued by President Trump were driven by “pay-to-play dynamics,” according to letters obtained by CBS News.
Among the pardons being probed by lawmakers are those granted to cryptocurrency billionaire Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering; nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz, who was convicted of tax crimes; and entrepreneur Trevor Milton, sentenced to four years in prison in 2023 after being convicted of lying to investors.
Mark Kelly May Prevail Over Hegseth
Judges on a federal appeals court on Thursday appeared likely to come down against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plans to try to demote Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in retirement and reduce his benefits — a series of actions that Hegseth took after Trump issued death threats against Kelly and a few other Dems for telling servicemembers they should refuse to follow illegal orders.
Per Politico:
A district judge’s ruling in February found the move amounted to imposing unconstitutional limits on political speech by retired service members, prompting Hegseth’s appeal.
The three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Thursday harshly questioned administration lawyers on the rationale for the Pentagon move, signaling they are unlikely to stray from the lower court ruling that blocked Hegseth’s bid to punish Kelly and concluded it amounts to a violation of the Democratic senator’s freedom of speech.
Alligator Alcatraz Is too Expensive for Ron :(
Florida officials are reportedly talking to the Trump administration about shutting down the immigrant detention center in the Everglades — which the DeSantis administration and Trump’s various online followers ghoulishly dubbed Alligator Alcatraz — due to how expensive operation costs have been. Per NYT, which cites a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official and someone close to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration:
The shutdown talks are preliminary, the people said. But officials at the Department of Homeland Security have concluded that it is too expensive to keep operating the center, known as Alligator Alcatraz. Homeland security officials have also come to consider the center ineffective, the federal official said. All three people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks.
In Case You Missed It
The latest from Josh Kovensky: Dallas Republicans Warned That Texas Was Turning Blue. Then They Wrecked an Election.
Layla A. Jones: U.S. Workers Are Getting Record-Low Compensation Based on Their Productivity
Kate Riga and Khaya Himmelman continue our coverage of the Callais fallout: Southern States Rush to Redraw Maps as John Roberts Gets Defensive
New edition of The Franchise from Khaya Himmelman, out this afternoon: The Red State Scramble to Gerrymander Away Black Electoral Power Has Been More Blatant Than You’d Expect
Morning Memo: GOP Races to Entrench Structural Power Advantages
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Indiana Republicans Who Wouldn’t Cave to Trump Pressure See Sweeping Losses in Primaries
What We Are Reading
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Trump calls for Jeffries to be charged with ‘inciting violence’ in social media post
Kash Patel ordered polygraphs of more than two dozen members of his team, sources say
Please-please — no more items about Schumer's fucking "letters of concern" to the WH, ffs! These letters are used as joke fodder, and quite probably don't even reach trump...if they do, he'll just stuff them into his Depends, and take a yuuge crap afterwards...which in fact is the logical response.