Rep. Buddy Carter is demanding the Federal Communications Commission investigate ABC, NBC, and CBS after the networks either refused to air or cut away from President Donald Trump’s July 16 primetime address on election security.
The Georgia Republican sent a letter Monday to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr asking whether the networks violated their obligation to “serve the public interest” — and whether their broadcast decisions should be considered when their licenses come up for renewal.
“The public airwaves should inform the American people, not be used by corporate executives to decide which matters of national importance they are permitted to hear.”
Carter raised “serious concerns” in the letter, obtained first by Fox News Digital.
The congressman said networks can disagree with Trump’s remarks while still airing them.
“Broadcasters may criticize, analyze, or fact-check the President’s statements,” he wrote. “However, refusing to air a major presidential address because executives disagree with its content raises serious concerns that they intended to keep Americans in the dark about potential foreign interference in our elections.”
ABC and NBC declined to broadcast the speech on their primary television networks. CBS cut away before Trump completed his remarks.
All three networks later aired special reports summarizing Trump’s address — but only after the president had already spoken. ABC News and NBC News streamed the speech on their digital platforms.
Carter argued that streaming services are not an “adequate substitute for free, over-the-air television — particularly for Americans without reliable broadband access.”
“Regardless of political affiliation, the American people deserved to hear this information directly from their President and judge it for themselves,” Carter wrote.
The letter follows Trump’s Thursday night primetime address, during which he called for ABC and NBC’s broadcast licenses to be revoked.
“In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech. They knew what it was about because they don’t like the topic, because they know how corrupt our system is and they don’t want to reveal it.”
Trump accused the networks of being part of a “plot” to “continue this fraud” and “protect the radical left.”
The president used the more than 20-minute address to announce the “immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence” documents he said revealed “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”
“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections,” Trump said. “You have to trust your country, because if there can be no trust, there can be no greatness.”
According to the White House, the documents released during the address included files related to alleged voting system vulnerabilities, China’s alleged acquisition of U.S. voter data, a Michigan voter registration investigation, and noncitizens on state voter rolls.
“Just as disturbingly, this vital information has been covered up and hidden from you, the American people, our beautiful, great American people, for many years,” Trump said. “But that all changes right now.”
Carter said the issues raised during Trump’s address warranted live broadcast coverage.
The allegations “concern both election integrity and national security,” he wrote.
The FCC, ABC News, NBC News, and CBS News did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
