Aug 25, 01:20 PM

Trump Says He Backs FCC Revoking ABC, NBC Licenses

President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on major U.S. broadcasters, saying in late-night Truth Social posts on Aug. 24 that he would "totally" support the Federal Communications Commission if it revoked the broadcast licenses of ABC News and NBC News. Calling the two outlets "two of the worst and most biased networks in history," Trump claimed they deliver "97 percent BAD STORIES" about him and argued they pose "an actual threat to our Democracy." The president also questioned why the networks "aren’t paying millions of dollars a year in LICENSE FEES" to use public airwaves, suggesting they should either lose their licenses or "pay up BIG" for the privilege. His comments follow months of friction with national media and come weeks after the FCC inserted a newsroom-bias monitor as a condition of approving an $8.4 billion merger involving CBS parent Paramount Global and Skydance Media. FCC licenses are issued to individual television stations rather than to national networks, and the agency rarely cancels a license mid-term. An FCC spokesperson and Chair Brendan Carr did not immediately comment on Trump’s remarks. Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, and Comcast Corp., owner of NBC, also declined to respond. Any attempt to strip stations of their licenses would almost certainly face legal challenges on First Amendment grounds.