FCC Chair Says Regulator Is ‘Not An Independent Agency’

The FCC, which regulates radio and television broadcasts nationwide, has long described itself as an “independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress” and has always operated separately from the day-to-day political pressures of elected officials.

On Wednesday, however, Carr said the FCC “is not an independent agency formally speaking” and the word “independent” was removed from its website’s official mission statement, seemingly a result of the moves Trump has taken to exert his control over the agency since he first took office.

Carr faced a smattering of questions from the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee about pressuring broadcasters to take Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show off the air after he commented on the death of late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, and about Trump’s role within the agency.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told Carr his exerting of influence over networks in telling them to remove Kimmel from the air was a “clear attempt to chill free speech,” but Carr said he was simply “enforcing the public interest standard” the FCC is tasked with upholding.

Carr refused to answer questions about if it’s appropriate for Trump to pressure him to go after private media companies, if he’d ever taken orders from the Trump administration or if he considered the president to be his boss.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Joe Biden appointee, said at the hearing that the agency under Trump has taken “actions to intimidate government critics, pressure media companies and challenge the boundaries of the First Amendment.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.