Chairman Carr's Corruption of the FCC Requires Greater Congressional Action and Oversight

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr dodged accountability during a House Commerce Committee oversight hearing on Wednesday. 

Throughout the hearing, Carr refused to answer questions about his efforts to weaponize the agency in service of President Donald Trump. His record includes helping the White House silence the president’s critics in the media, install so-called “bias monitors” inside private media companies and enrich Trump by pressuring companies like Paramount to settle meritless lawsuits — resulting in tens of millions of dollars in payouts to the president.

Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron said:

“In the House of Representatives, Chairman Carr dodged tough questions and tried to justify his efforts to eliminate consumer safeguards, censor news and entertainment content, and hand over more media power to President Trump’s cronies. 

“While millions of people from across the political spectrum are outraged by Carr’s corrupt approach to media regulation, the Republican majority on the committee repeatedly apologized to Carr for having to answer questions about his record, asked him to list his favorite tech gadgets, and praised him for destroying affordable-broadband programs and punishing the families of the incarcerated.

“Carr has twisted the notion of the ‘public interest’ beyond recognition. He’s sacrificing his agency’s independence to serve the ideological and self-interested aims of the Trump regime, shaking down media companies for favorable coverage, launching spurious investigations into Trump’s political targets, and attacking diversity and equity at every turn. 

“He’s moved to allow unprecedented media consolidation over local broadcasting, paying back the same companies that attempted to silence ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and urged TV newsrooms to warp their news coverage to please the Trump administration. Carr’s plans fly in the face of laws Congress has passed, but the chairman would only say he was ‘looking into’ whether he had the authority to flout the clear prohibition on allowing a few companies to dominate the public airwaves across the country.

“Carr also skirted questions about his 180-degree reversal on the question of the commission’s independence from the White House, and refused to respond when asked whether and when he instructed the FCC to strip language asserting the agency’s independence from its website, which happened in the middle of his Senate appearance last month.

“Carr’s performance was filled with evasion and doublespeak. He simply would not answer the questions he was asked. He refused to affirm that the agency couldn’t interfere with broadcasters’ content decisions and defended his own anti-free-speech actions by falsely suggesting that Democrats did it first. The American people deserve far better than an FCC chair who confuses the public interest with his personal desire to keep an authoritarian president happy.”