Trump Demanded ABC's Licenses Be Revoked as His FCC Reviewed Eight of Its Stations Years Early

Carry His Speech or Lose the License

On July 16, 2026, during a prime-time address on election reform, President Donald Trump demanded that ABC and NBC lose their broadcast licenses because their broadcast channels did not carry it.¹² Both networks carried the speech through streaming services, and ABC also offered it on radio, Reuters reported.² He said the two networks were "part of a plot."¹ He was threatening punishment for an editorial choice about broadcast airtime, even though viewers could watch the speech online.¹²

Address to the Nation on Election Reforms¹

Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.

The threat landed on a company with applications pending before his government: ABC's eight owned television stations were already under an early license review by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).³⁴ Trump made the threat himself, in public, and he designated the FCC's chairman, Brendan Carr, on January 20, 2025.¹⁵ ABC's allegation that retaliation caused the FCC review remains contested.⁶⁷

ABC's complaint says Carr then told reporters the speech was something broadcasters should carry and that the FCC would weigh ABC's decision in the pending renewals.⁶ It quotes him: "We are looking into this question itself about the decision to air programming or not."⁶

The July threat was part of a pattern.⁶⁸ On August 24, 2025, Trump wrote that he would be "totally in favor" of the FCC revoking ABC's and NBC's licenses.⁶ On December 24, he asked whether networks should have their licenses terminated over negative coverage of himself, MAGA and the Republican Party, and answered: "I say, YES!"⁸⁶ Carr's own March 14, 2026 post warned that broadcasters airing what he called hoaxes and news distortions would lose their licenses unless they changed course.⁹ And on August 30, 2026, Trump threatened to report NBC's Kristen Welker to the FCC for punishment after she described his endorsement results as mixed; Reuters documented both wins and primary defeats and reported NBC's defense of her.¹⁰ He separately urged FCC action against unfavorable polling, Reuters reported.¹⁰

A Firing Demand, Then Eight Early Renewals

On April 27, 2026, Trump publicly demanded that Disney and ABC immediately fire Jimmy Kimmel.¹¹ Kimmel had joked that the First Lady had "a glow like an expectant widow," a joke ABC's complaint dates before the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.⁶ Trump's post called it a "despicable call to violence."¹¹ NPR reported that Melania Trump urged ABC to act and that Kimmel defended the joke as a reference to the couple's age difference.¹²

The next day, April 28, 2026, the FCC ordered ABC's eight owned stations to file renewal applications within 30 days, by May 28.³ A broadcast license lasts up to eight years.¹³ None of these was normally due before 2028; the last was due in 2031.⁴⁶ The order covered stations in Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Durham, Philadelphia and Houston.³ ABC filed under protest on the deadline, after the Media Bureau refused its request for 60 more days, according to its complaint.⁶⁴

David J. Brown, chief of the Media Bureau's Video Division, signed the three-paragraph order; it records no commission vote and names neither Kimmel nor Trump.³ Carr denied any outside pressure or request for the order, The Hollywood Reporter reported.¹⁴

Two days after the order, Trump again demanded Kimmel's firing: "It better be soon!!!"¹¹ In a Newsmax interview that day, as ABC's memorandum transcribes it, he said: "I think ABC is putting themselves in great jeopardy, actually."¹¹ His April 27 post did not request FCC action, and his April 30 statements did not mention the renewal order; in July, he explicitly demanded license revocation.¹¹¹

The FCC's Defense Has Real Evidence

The government says the early review grew out of an employment inquiry, and it has evidence.⁷ Carr opened the inquiry into Disney's and ABC's diversity programs on March 27, 2025, thirteen months before the early-renewal order.¹⁵ He asked whether the companies were violating the FCC's equal employment opportunity rules by discriminating through those programs.¹⁵ The Enforcement Bureau sent written demands in June 2025 and February 2026; the government says Disney's April 21, 2026 response was deficient and led to the order.¹⁶⁷

An FCC regulation allows early applications when essential to a hearing or investigation.¹⁷ On April 27, the same division chief issued a nearly identical order to Bridge News over possible unauthorized transfers of station control, so ABC's order was the second in two days, not the first use in half a century.¹⁸³ Carr said leadership had signaled early renewals for months, and the government separately cites his March discussion of using the tool generally.¹⁶⁷

The government also says ABC has retained editorial control, that Kimmel and The View remained on air, and that the stations' licenses would continue during judicial review even if renewal were denied.⁷ ABC says it considered retaliation and streamed Trump's July address when it ordinarily would not have done so.⁶ The government disputes this, pointing to ABC's similar treatment of a Biden address in 2022.⁷

Kimmel had been temporarily suspended in September 2025.⁶⁷ ABC's complaint places the suspension hours after Carr warned of additional FCC action if the companies did not act on Kimmel, and says Trump celebrated it.⁶ The government counters with Disney's contemporaneous explanation that it considered some of Kimmel's comments ill-timed and insensitive, then restored the show after discussions with him.⁷

The government argues that investigative and litigation expense does not establish the irreparable injury required for emergency relief, and says qualifying renewal applications will be granted.⁷ Section 307(d), however, bars granting a renewal more than 30 days before the existing license expires.¹³ ABC argues that the FCC therefore cannot grant these renewals for years, leaving the threat of denial hanging over its editorial decisions.⁸

Officials may criticize broadcasters and enforce valid rules, courts ordinarily assume they acted lawfully unless shown otherwise, and ABC must show retaliation caused its injury.^1920217 Presidents also supervise executive agencies, and the Supreme Court upheld Trump's power to remove Federal Trade Commission members on June 29, 2026.²²⁷²³ Justice Gorsuch joined that decision but wrote separately warning about the accumulated agency powers now controlled by the President; he specifically cited Carr's threat of additional FCC action over a late-night host's remarks.²³ Carr himself said "the FCC should not operate as a speech police," as the government's brief quotes his April 30 remarks.⁷

None of this explains away the President's explicit demand to revoke licenses for refusing broadcast airtime: that is punishment, not criticism.¹

No Discrimination Finding, but a Warning to Every Broadcaster

On May 29, Carr said Disney's responses were "deficient, nonresponsive, and disingenuous," but expressly said the underlying allegations were not FCC conclusions or determinations and that the agency was reserving judgment.¹⁶

ABC says it cooperated while objecting to the demands' scope and burden.⁶ Its reply quotes a July 2, 2025 FCC email agreeing to accept documents limited to the regulated broadcast stations while reserving the right to demand a broader production.⁸⁷ ABC says the FCC did not raise the scope issue again until May 15, 2026, seventeen days after the early-renewal order, and argues that this undercuts the claimed justification for the order.⁸⁷

The order said early renewal would also enable the FCC to assess ABC's "public interest obligations more broadly."³ On May 15, Carr described the licensing tool to the Financial Times, as quoted in ABC's memorandum: "It’s probably been 50, 60 years or longer since the FCC has used this tool."¹¹ He added: "If you didn’t take us seriously, now you should."¹¹ The government acknowledges that remark and says he meant the antidiscrimination investigation.⁷

On May 28, the day ABC's applications were due, the FCC issued a public notice urging all broadcasters to review and modify their operations to comply with their public interest duties.²⁴ It listed financial enforcement, conditional or shorter renewals, early applications and hearings as possible responses to failures, and cited both the ABC and Bridge News orders as examples of early renewal.²⁴

Commissioner Anna Gomez, whom NPR described as the FCC's lone Democrat, said on the day of the ABC order that the White House had called for silencing a critic and the FCC had answered that call.¹²²⁵

Pages Produced and Guests Passed Over

ABC says the pressure has already cost it, in documents and in programming.⁸⁶ By September 17, it said, the employment inquiry had generated over 600 requests, 276 pages of written narrative responses and over 18,600 pages of produced documents.⁸

ABC's complaint says the FCC's July 2, 2026 inquiry demanded two years of internal communications about candidates from The View's booking staff, producers and hosts, along with employees' and hosts' political donations and internal interview guidance. It says a July 16, 2026 inquiry expanded to editorial standards across ABC programs and political donations by on-air talent and producers.⁶

ABC's complaint says The View had hosted no candidate for public office since the FCC's February 2026 inquiry into James Talarico's appearance.⁶ It says the program passed over several prospective political guests and withheld video clips it otherwise would have aired, because of combined pressure from the equal-opportunities inquiry and pending license renewals.⁶ ABC draws a distinction that matters: it alleges that regulatory consequences changed what reached viewers even while its standards for newsworthiness remained intact.⁶

The FCC stated its goal as investigating possible discrimination and ensuring the stations met their wider public interest duties.³ Carr's May letter announced no discrimination determination.¹⁶ What the review had demonstrably produced was eight applications filed years early; ABC's filings describe extensive document production and altered guest and clip decisions along the way.⁴⁶⁸

Kimmel Moved a Senate Interview Online

On September 9, Kimmel said he would move his interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico to YouTube, citing FCC threats and concern for ABC affiliates and local stations, Reuters reported.²⁶²⁷ The Texas Tribune reported that the interview appeared online on September 10.²⁸ ABC's broadcast audience did not receive that interview on its television channel.²⁶²⁸

The White House denied that Carr had threatened Kimmel over interviewing Talarico or any other candidate, in a statement CNN read on September 10, and Gomez, who described a broader pressure campaign, said she could not establish exactly what happened in this instance.²⁷ The FCC's January guidance had warned that daytime and late-night entertainment shows could not automatically assume they qualified for the statutory news-interview exemption from equal opportunities for candidates.²⁹

Together with ABC's account of The View, Kimmel's move shows why continued possession of a license does not answer the claim that government pressure changed speech.⁶²⁶ A completed sanction is not the only form of harm: in Bantam Books, the Supreme Court recognized informal censorship that inhibited publication even without seizure or a ban.³⁰

What the Judge Has and Has Not Decided

On August 18, 2026, ABC, Disney and the eight station licensees sued the FCC and its commissioners for First Amendment retaliation.⁶ ABC asked the court to stop further action on the early renewals, including sending them to a hearing that could end in denial.¹¹⁴

The government's threshold objection is about which court can hear the challenge: it argues that Congress assigned review of FCC orders to federal appeals courts, leaving the district court without jurisdiction even before a final order.⁷³¹

Judge Loren L. AliKhan heard argument on October 6 without ruling on the requests; AP reported that she asked for further briefing, due by October 14, with a decision not expected before mid-October.³²

The licenses continue during renewal review.⁴ The FCC promised at least 48 hours' notice before ordering a renewal hearing, while ABC's request for an injunction is pending.³³ If the FCC issues a hearing designation order, the judge requires it to notify the court and provide the order that same day; the parties must appear the following business day to argue whether a temporary restraining order should issue. The docket through October 6 records no hearing designation order.³⁴

Public Power Used as Editorial Pressure

Congress gave the FCC licensing authority, but expressly withheld the power of censorship.¹³³⁵ The Supreme Court upheld broadcast regulation in Red Lion, and in National Broadcasting Co. v. United States said licenses could not be allocated according to applicants' political, economic or social views.³⁶³⁷ In its unanimous 2024 Vullo decision, the Court distinguished lawful official criticism from coercion: "What she cannot do, however, is use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression."¹⁹

The constitutional concern is abuse of entrusted power.³⁸ Hamilton described impeachable offenses as arising from "the abuse or violation of some public trust."³⁸ The House Judiciary Committee's Nixon Article II charged discriminatory use of tax investigations.³⁹ Outside the articles of impeachment, a tape records Nixon discussing making The Washington Post's station renewal troublesome, insisting the challenge become active and calling for a rough game.⁴⁰³⁹

Separately, Carr's FCC voted to remove the 39% national television ownership cap and released its order on October 1; Gomez argues that only Congress can remove it.⁴¹

Trump repeatedly urged the government to take broadcast licenses away because he disliked coverage or an airtime decision.⁶⁸¹ His chosen chairman's FCC put all eight ABC stations into early review and opened their broader public interest record to scrutiny.⁵³ ABC says it has produced over 18,600 pages of documents and alleges that the combined pressure changed its programming.⁸⁶ The President's public threat itself is established: he treated the right to keep broadcasting as something networks should lose for refusing his preferred editorial choices.¹ Using presidential authority to demand that punishment is an abuse of public trust, and that is the charge that warrants impeachment scrutiny.¹³⁸