Top House Commerce Democrats Demand Accountability from Chairman Carr After Retaliation Against Disney for Jimmy Kimmel Joke

Top Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr condemning his ongoing attempts to chill speech and weaponize the agency against any criticism of President Trump—including Chairman Carr’s recent, unprecedented order requiring that Disney and its eight broadcast stations file to renew their licenses early, years ahead of their original schedule. They say Chairman Carr's actions "uniformly and improperly wield the regulatory power of your agency to erode the First Amendment rights of your and [President] Trump’s targets," and request answers to a series of questions no later than May 14, including:

• An explanation of Chairman Carr’s decision to order the early license renewal of Disney ABC stations, including what relevant issues he purportedly found in his ongoing investigation of Disney;
• What led to Chairman Carr’s decision to reverse long-standing FCC policy and subject daytime and late-night talk shows to the equal time rule, including all documents related to the decision and an explanation behind the rationale for issuing this change without formal rulemaking;
• A detailed explanation of Chairman Carr’s interpretation of the “public interest standard” and the FCC’s authority to enforce his interpretation;
• What criteria Chairman Carr uses to determine whether a program is “motivated by a partisan purpose”; and
• All records related to travel to Trump’s personal residence in Florida, including itineraries for that travel, participants in meetings, and detailed receipts of all associated costs paid or reimbursed by the FCC.