President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he plans to report NBC anchor Kristen Welker to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) following her remarks about his endorsements in recent primary elections. Trump criticized Welker’s characterization of his record, describing it as “purposeful inaccuracy,” and called on the FCC to take disciplinary action against her.
Welker had appeared in an interview with NBC’s Washington affiliate WRC-TV ahead of her “Meet the Press” show, where she said Trump “is going to loom large” over the upcoming midterm elections. She noted that the former president endorsed several candidates in Republican primary races, with “some mixed results.” Trump pushed back on this assessment in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, calling his endorsement record “without question, the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics.” He urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr “to take this Threat to our Country very seriously.”
In a subsequent post, Trump also criticized polling practices by media outlets, again calling on the FCC for intervention, but provided no further specifics. The FCC did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
NBC News defended Welker, describing her as “one of the best in the business” and expressing full support for her reporting.
Welker cited recent examples of Trump-endorsed candidates who won their primaries, including South Carolina Senator Darline Graham, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—who defeated incumbent Senator John Cornyn—and Julia Letlow, who prevailed in Louisiana’s GOP Senate primary. However, she also noted that some Trump-backed candidates lost, such as gubernatorial hopefuls Burt Jones in Georgia and Randy Feenstra in Iowa, as well as Representative Cory Mills of Florida, who was seeking re-election.
Since assuming the chairmanship of the FCC during Trump’s second term, Brendan Carr has taken a more aggressive stance toward media companies and broadcasters. Carr has warned that the agency could deny or revoke broadcast licenses if a station is found to disseminate what it defines as “fake news.” While the FCC holds authority under the Communications Act of 1934 to regulate broadcast licenses and monitor content in the interest of the public, it must do so within the constraints of the First Amendment. Revoking licenses or sanctioning broadcasters based solely on disagreements over viewpoint or editorial content is widely considered a violation of constitutional protections.
The FCC has not revoked a broadcast license in over four decades. Still, under Carr’s leadership, the agency has increased scrutiny of media outlets. Earlier this year, Carr threatened license revocations over network coverage of the U.S.-Israel conflict involving Iran, a move publicly supported by Trump. Last month, Trump called for networks ABC and NBC to lose their licenses after neither interrupted programming to air one of his speeches. The commission also confronted ABC after the president disparaged its late-night host Jimmy Kimmel; ABC responded by suing the FCC, arguing that the agency’s license review process infringes on First Amendment rights.
As the FCC continues to assert its regulatory approach amid ongoing legal challenges and political backlash, the tensions between the Trump administration and major media organizations remain a key flashpoint heading into the midterm elections.