Trump tells FCC to punish journalist for calling his election results "mixed" - Ars Technica

Overview

Trump tells FCC to punish journalist for calling his election results “mixed”

Trump furious at NBC’s Kristen Welker for saying he had mixed results in primary endorsements.

Details

President Trump yesterday demanded that the Federal Communications Commission punish or rebuke an NBC journalist for saying he has “mixed results” in his election endorsements. In the latest example of how Trump is using the FCC to harass reporters and news organizations that he dislikes, he said Meet the Press host Kristen Welker “will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment” for what he claimed was a “purposeful inaccuracy.”

“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, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U. S. Senate, and 98% for the U. S. House, recently and over the longterm. How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

A separate post from Trump yesterday said, “THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE! President DJT.” Trump also posted a rant on Friday about New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, calling her “an unattractive person both inside and out” who “should be forced to turn over any and all money that she’s made through her fake reporting on me.” Trump referred to Haberman throughout his post as “Maggot Haberman.”

Trump’s post about Welker included an image purporting to show he has near-perfect results in his endorsements this year. “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,” Trump wrote.

Perhaps indicating that he will refer additional journalists for FCC punishment, Trump wrote that Welker “is not the only one. The Radical Left News is going out of their way to harass, demean, and libel anything ‘TRUMP.’”

The idea of the FCC punishing reporters for basic analysis of election results would have seemed far-fetched in previous administrations. The FCC website says the commission “cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view,” and that it “generally will not intervene” in complaints about “one-sided news reports” because “it would be inconsistent with the First Amendment to replace the journalistic judgment of licensees with our own.”

Even during Trump’s first term, then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said that under the First Amendment, “the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast.” Pai made the comment less than a week after Trump called on the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses from NBC and other networks for “fake news.”

An FCC investigation of Welker over an ordinary statement about election results seems much less far-fetched under Carr, who has embraced his role as Trump’s chief censor. Carr has made it clear he takes orders from Trump, abandoning his previous position—which he held under Democratic presidents—that the FCC must operate independently of White House interference.

Welker said in an appearance on NBC 4 Washington that Trump “has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries” and that “he’s had some mixed results but most recently his pick of Senator Darline Graham, of course the sister of the late Senator Lindsay Graham, was successful in her primary battle.” Trump’s post attacking Welker claimed that “the story of [Graham’s] Victory was hardly covered by anybody,” despite Welker mentioning it in the very statement that triggered Trump’s wrath.

Poynter Senior Media Writer Tom Jones writes, “What Welker said about Trump’s endorsements having mixed results was true. Trump just didn’t like it.” While Trump praised himself for his successful endorsements, he didn’t mention primary losses by Republican gubernatorial candidates Burt Jones in Georgia and Randy Feenstra in Iowa and the failed re-election bid by Rep. Cory Mills (R-Florida).

Carr uses news-distortion policy to threaten networks

An NBC News spokesperson told several media outlets that “Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her.” We contacted NBC News and will update this article if it has any further comment.

Welker is hardly the first TV journalist to discuss Trump’s mixed endorsement results. “Already, just this month alone, six of the president’s endorsed candidates have lost their races, and so there are questions about the power of his endorsements,” CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene said on Inside Politics.

In June, Trump abruptly ended an interview with Welker after she challenged his claims of election rigging in California. Trump stated that “all I have to do is look” when Welker asked him for evidence of cheating. “That’s not evidence,” Welker responded.

If Carr does investigate Welker, he could do so under the FCC’s news distortion policy. Carr has repeatedly invoked the rarely enforced news distortion policy and a rule against broadcast hoaxes in various threats to Trump’s perceived enemies in the media. We asked the FCC chairman’s office today if the commission will investigate Welker and will update this article if we get a response.

Previous FCC leaders set such a high bar for proving news distortion that the policy was all but abandoned until Carr made it a focal point of his attempts to punish broadcasters. In September 2025, Carr threatened to revoke ABC station licenses for news distortion if they continued airing Jimmy Kimmel’s show.

While Carr can cause trouble for licensed broadcasters and networks simply by issuing threats, he went far beyond mere threats in the case of ABC. The Carr FCC ordered ABC to file early license-renewal applications for the eight TV stations it owns and operates and justified the proceeding by accusing ABC of violating anti-discrimination rules with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

ABC owner Disney is fighting back with a lawsuit against Carr and the FCC, saying it has faced a campaign of censorship in retaliation for the protected speech of its journalists and network programs. Both conservative and liberal groups have urged the FCC to back off.

The Trump administration has also sought to reshape the media through merger approvals. Paramount won FCC approval to buy Skydance after agreeing to install what Carr called a “bias monitor” at CBS. Paramount later won Justice Department approval to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, months after CEO David Ellison reportedly told Trump administration officials that he would make big changes at the Warner-owned CNN.

In March, Trump and Carr demanded more positive media coverage of the Iran war, with Carr claiming without evidence that broadcasters aired “hoaxes and news distortions.” Last year, Carr accused Comcast of news distortion when its subsidiary NBC refused to adopt the Trump administration narrative on the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the commission’s only Democrat, responded to Trump’s latest threat yesterday. “As I’ve said many times, the FCC has no authority to punish journalists this administration doesn’t like,” Gomez wrote. “These threats to press freedom are dangerous. They undermine the foundation of our democracy, and they have no place in it.”

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Key Takeaways

• Trump tells FCC to punish journalist for calling his election results “mixed”

• Trump furious at NBC’s Kristen Welker for saying he had mixed results in primary endorsements

• President Trump yesterday demanded that the Federal Communications Commission punish or rebuke an NBC journalist for saying he has “mixed results” in his election endorsements

• “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, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U

• A separate post from Trump yesterday said, “THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT