Democrats from the Senate Commerce Committee submitted a letter Tuesday requesting an oversight hearing for the Federal Communications Commission after President Trump threatened to suspend broadcast licenses last week.
“The FCC Chairman’s failure to quickly respond and denounce these threats is shocking and raises questions about the ability of the FCC to truly act independently under Chairman Pai’s leadership,” the letter addressed to the panel’s top members says.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai affirmed his commitment to upholding the First Amendment on Tuesday and said the FCC will not revoke a broadcaster’s license based on content produced.
“I believe in the First Amendment. The FCC under my leadership, will stand for the First Amendment,” he said Tuesday.
Spearheaded by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., the group of Democrats criticized Pai for waiting six days to respond to Trump’s threats.
“It is imperative that FCC Chairman Pai and his fellow Commissioners address this Committee and respond to the President’s stated desire for regulatory abuse of his perceived critics through the FCC,” the letter added.
Trump rebuked NBC News last week in response to a report about him once saying he wanted to bolster the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
“It’s frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write,” he said. Experts expressed skepticism that Trump even has the power to do this, as broadcast networks are handed out by the FCC to local TV stations and not nationwide ones like NBC.
Trump echoed similar disdain in the form of tweets, suggesting a challenge or removal of broadcast licenses of news networks that he deemed “fake news.”
“With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” he tweeted last week.
