ABC fights BACK: Network accuses Trump's FCC of violating its free speech

[0:00] ABC is now gearing up for battle with the Trump administration. [0:03] It's accusing the Federal Communications Commission of violating the network's First Amendment free speech rights. [0:08] The network submitted a filing this week on behalf of its Houston affiliate, [0:12] defending an appearance on The View by Texas State Representative James Tallarico, [0:16] ahead of the state's Democratic Senate primary. [0:18] That's before he won that primary and became the nominee. [0:21] After that February appearance, Chairman Brendan Carr accused The View of violating the equal time rule [0:27] by not also interviewing Cal Rico's opponent, Jasmine Crockett. [0:30] Yes, you heard that right. [0:32] Brendan Carr was defending the honor of Jasmine Crockett. [0:35] In this filing made public today, the network fired back, slamming the FCC's equal time criticism, [0:40] accusing the commission of creating, quote, [0:42] harmful ambiguity in an area where none previously existed [0:45] and a chilling effect on First Amendment protected speech on the eve of the 2026 election. [0:50] Now, keep in mind, ABC is part of Disney. [0:52] So this is Disney's ABC pushing back against the Trump administration. [0:55] This, of course, the same company that quite infamously settled a defamation lawsuit [1:01] with Donald Trump in 2024 for $15 million. [1:05] The same company that briefly yanked Jimmy Kimmel off the air when his monologue [1:09] on Charlie Kirk's murder angered conservatives. [1:11] And now, after all that, the network here affirmatively and pointedly warning the Trump administration [1:16] in court it will put up a fight on First Amendment grounds. [1:19] Anna Gomez serves as a commissioner of the FCC. [1:22] She was nominated by Joe Biden in 2023, and she joins me. [1:24] Now, I want to just have you take us through the sort of some of the technical issues here, [1:28] as, you know, broadly as you can communicate them. [1:31] On a scale of totally routine to bizarrely anomalous, [1:36] the sort of enforcement notice that came from the FCC to that Houston affiliate [1:40] that they had run afoul of FCC regulations by only having James Tallarico on it, [1:45] is that a common kind of thing to happen or is this, like, doesn't usually happen? [1:50] Well, I mean, I think it's important to take it in context, right? [1:52] What we've seen here is a coordinated and sustained campaign against Disney [1:58] in order to force it to cover this administration in ways that it wants to. [2:02] And as you note, we have a variety of ways that we've seen these types of actions being taken. [2:07] We saw with the settlement that many said was a poor lawsuit, [2:13] a defamation lawsuit that really didn't have a good basis in law. [2:20] We saw that with the investigation into The View. [2:25] We saw that with the Jimmy Kimmel incident, [2:27] where time and time again this administration is complaining about the content [2:34] of Disney's and ABC's broadcasts, and the FCC stands up and salutes and says, [2:41] let's go after this company. [2:43] In this case, what the FCC did was in earlier this year, I believe it was in January, [2:50] it put out a public notice basically declaring that all the prior precedent on this, [2:57] on how we treat the equal opportunities rule was no longer something that broadcasters could rely on. [3:06] Disney, in its filing, noted that it has a bona fide news exemption, [3:12] which means it does not have to actually provide equal opportunity. [3:17] It has had it for 24 years. [3:20] So it's very unprecedented. [3:22] But what ended up happening, and this is what makes this so outrageous, [3:27] is the FCC contacted other ABC affiliates, not the owned ones. [3:35] There's only the one owned one that the FCC is taking this action against. [3:39] And it said, we want you to file your equal opportunities filing. [3:45] It's something that organizations are required to file. [3:48] And if you do that, we're going to hold you harmless for being late and filing it. [3:53] Then it went to Disney and to ABC, and it said, see, you should have filed in this equal opportunities. [4:02] And therefore, and all these other parties did it, even though some of them said, we don't think we need to. [4:07] So it had them filed, then it went to Disney and was like, why didn't you file, [4:11] having prompted them to file precisely to sort of have some sort of technical regulatory thing [4:17] they could point to as Disney having run afoul of. [4:20] So this is not enforcement. [4:22] This is entrapment by the FCC. [4:24] Right. [4:25] I mean, here's something that I thought was interesting in the ABC response to this, [4:29] which is very strong. [4:30] It says, it's critical any further action in this matter be conducted via consideration by and vote of the full commission [4:36] and not by media bureau staff acting under delegated authority. [4:39] While the commission may delegate some functions to bureau staff, [4:42] changes in longstanding commission rulings can only be made by the commission itself. [4:45] Do you agree with them on that? [4:48] Yeah, that's absolutely right. [4:49] This FCC keeps using the bureau because when the bureau acts, it's not reviewable in court [4:55] because usually under our judicial system, the full commission has to act before it can go to court. [5:01] And this FCC is trying its best to harass and intimidate Disney to get it to change its ways [5:08] to make this administration happy without it then having the ability to file in court. [5:14] But what we're seeing is Disney is choosing courage over capitulation. [5:18] And it's doing so because it knows it has the First Amendment on its side. [5:21] This filing by Disney is really a master class in how to defend itself [5:28] against the First Amendment incursions of this administration. [5:31] It really seems to me that this is, I mean, the bad faith here is so transparent. [5:37] It's almost, it's difficult to kind of look at with a straight face. [5:40] I mean, I'm speaking for myself here watching all this. [5:43] Brendan Carr has sort of assigned himself. [5:46] He's the chair of the FCC, not as the head of this independent agency with a sort of portfolio. [5:50] But one of his roles, he sees, is to use the regulatory power he has [5:54] to coerce, threaten, bully and force major platforms in the U.S. [6:00] to come in line with the acting president. [6:03] Is that fair? [6:04] It is clear that that is what this administration is doing. [6:08] This administration is using any lever of power it has. [6:12] And it does it throughout the administration, right? [6:14] It goes after universities. [6:15] It goes after law firms. [6:16] It goes after reporters. [6:18] The FTC goes after advertising companies, always with the same goal in mind. [6:23] And that is to alter the content of whatever these bodies are representing or are reporting on. [6:32] FCC Commissioner Ana Gomez, good to have you back in the program. [6:35] Thank you.