Legal experts say the FCC cannot revoke a broadcast license just because a network refuses to broadcast a presidential speech, citing First Amendment protections.
Key takeaways from President Trump’s prime-time speech on the election
President Donald Trump spoke about election fraud in a prime-time speech, but did not mention rising gas prices or inflation.
President Donald Trump has called for ABC and NBC to have their licenses revoked for not airing a July 16 prime-time address focused on election security.
Towards the end of his roughly 26-minute speech at the White House, President Trump criticized the networks for not broadcasting it live, claiming that the decision was made “due to the fact that they don’t like this subject matter.”
“Such fraud should mean revocation of license,” he says. “They’re using our public airways, which are worth billions of dollars, for absolutely nothing. They’re not paying anything. All we want is integrity in our elections and integrity in our reporting.”
Each network aired his speech on their respective streaming platforms and covered his subsequent remarks.
NBC declined to comment. USA TODAY has reached out to ABC.
Experts told USA TODAY that while the Federal Communications Commission has limited authority to revoke broadcast licenses, doing so based on a network’s editorial decisions would be unconstitutional.
“The First Amendment does not allow the president to require reporting by royal order,” said Robert Cohn Revere, principal counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “This is Section 101 of the First Amendment.”
Here’s what you need to know:
How did the FCC react to President Trump’s comments?
The FCC did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on July 17. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr had previously threatened the network’s broadcast license over its coverage of the Iran war, but had not issued a public statement on the matter as of early afternoon.
Commissioner Anna Gomez, appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2023, called President Trump’s call to revoke the license “ridiculous” in a statement provided to USA TODAY.
She said the FCC “does not have the authority to punish stations that refuse to air overtly political speech.”
She echoed those sentiments in a July 17 X post that included a screenshot of a news headline reporting the network’s previous decision not to air speeches by Biden or former President Barack Obama during their respective terms.
“This is a blatant attempt to bully a broadcaster, and the FCC should not be involved,” Gomez said.
Her response reiterated an earlier statement in which she accused the FCC of engaging in partisan politics to support President Trump’s objectives.
Could the FCC revoke President Trump’s license for not broadcasting his speech?
Not so, according to First Amendment experts.
“Governments are not responsible for deciding what is and isn’t newsworthy, what needs to be broadcast live and what doesn’t,” said David Keating, director of the Free Speech Institute.
But given Carr’s past statements and the FCC’s past actions against the station under the Trump administration, Keating and Cohnrevere said they could try to revoke the license over editorial decisions.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he (Kerr) tried it, but I don’t think he would ultimately be successful,” Keating said.
But the process would still be time-consuming and costly for the network, he said.
What actions has the FCC already taken against ABC?
President Trump’s comments further accelerate debate over the future of ABC’s broadcast license.
In February, the FCC began an enforcement action against Disney-owned ABC after state Rep. James Talarico (D-Texas) appeared on “The View” while running in the state’s Democratic Senate primary.
Carr characterized the issue as a procedural issue, saying ABC had not filed the proper paperwork to declare a political candidate’s appearance, giving opponents leeway to request “equal time and placement.”
In May, the FCC began accepting public comments on whether The View should be exempted from requirements to provide equal broadcasting opportunities to political candidates. By late June, when the ABC launched a broadcast campaign to encourage public engagement on the issue, more than 50,000 comments had been received.
In a July 6 legal filing, the network accused the FCC of engaging in “callous rhetoric ahead of the fast-approaching 2026 general election.”
In a separate matter, the FCC in April ordered Disney-owned ABC to submit license renewals for eight of its television stations by late May, years ahead of schedule. The order said the commission was investigating the stations for “possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and FCC rules, including the FCC’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.”
In response, Disney said it is “confident” that “this record demonstrates our continued eligibility as a licensee under the Communications Act and the First Amendment, and we are prepared to demonstrate that through appropriate legal channels.”
Contributor: Brian Alexander, USA TODAY
Breanna Frank is USA TODAY’s First Amendment reporter. please contact her bjfrank@usatoday.com.
USA TODAY’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded by the Freedom Forum in collaboration with our journalism funding partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
