Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., grilled Brendan Carr, senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), about his stance on revoking ABC's broadcast license during a House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday.
Former President Donald Trump had complained of being treated unfairly by moderators who repeatedly fact-checked him while not doing the same for Vice President Kamala Harris during the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
In an interview the next day, Trump said, "ABC took a big hit last night. I mean, to be honest, they're a news organization. They have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that."
At the Thursday House hearing, Khanna asked if Carr believed ABC's license should be revoked. Carr responded by saying he bases his decisions on facts and law, but didn't give a direct opinion.
Khan pressed Carr multiple times, at one point saying, "So what is your view? The whole country has the facts. We all saw the debate. I mean, it's not like some complicated question based on those facts, based on what [moderator] David Muir did, based on the questions that were asked. Would you recommend that the license be revoked? President Trump obviously has an opinion on it. He's made it. What's your opinion?"
Carr again said his decisions at the FCC have always been based on the law, facts, and the First Amendment. But, he said, "If your concern is weaponization, we should talk about that."
Carr said, "When President [Joe] Biden stood at the White House podium and said Elon Musk is worth being looked at and then all of a sudden the FCC abruptly reverses a 2020 decision to get him $885 million to bring broadband to 640,000 people. I think that's concerning. When Democrats in Congress write letters to cable companies, ask him to drop Fox News because of the decisions. I think that's concerning."
Carr reiterated, "I think you've seen from my record a consistent pattern of always basing my decisions at the FCC based on the law, the facts. and the First Amendment. That's what I've done. That's what I'll always do."