Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has denounced Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s threats to pull ABC’s broadcast licence as “unbelievably dangerous” and compared some of his rhetoric to “mafioso” tactics.
In an episode of his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” released on Friday, the Texas Republican said he was “thrilled” Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air by ABC over his comments about conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
But he said he strongly disagreed with the government policing speech, asserting it could come back to bite conservatives when Democrats retake power.
“I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said.
“But let me tell you: If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”
Though Carr’s comments have drawn widespread condemnation on the left, Cruz’s remarks represent one of the strongest denunciations of the threats against broadcasters by an elected conservative.
Cruz also chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which has broad authority over the FCC.
“Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again – wins the White House … they will silence us. They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous,” Cruz said.
Asked later by reporters on Capitol Hill if the Commerce Committee will hold hearings into the matter or investigate Carr if he continues in the same vein, Cruz left the door open to the possibility.
“There’s no doubt the Commerce Committee has oversight, authority and responsibility over the FCC, and when the Democrats had the majority, they did not engage in oversight … We will do our job and engage in oversight.”
President Donald Trump has also vaguely threatened to pull networks’ licences if they air overwhelmingly negative coverage of him, though Cruz did not rebut the president’s remarks directly on the podcast.
Trump offered praise for Carr when pressed on the scathing remarks from the Texas Republican. “I think Brendan Carr is a great American patriot. So I disagree with Ted Cruz on that,” he said.
The president also continued to lament what he described as “dishonesty” from network broadcasts that are critical of him.
Cruz played recent remarks Carr made on far-right podcaster Benny Johnson’s podcast, in which the FCC chairman threatened to take action against broadcasters who don’t “find ways to change conduct” the government considers disagreeable.
“I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” ABC pulled Kimmel’s show off the air indefinitely the day after Carr made those comments.
Responding to Carr’s comments, Cruz said: “No, no, no, no, no.”
“Look, look, I like Brendan Carr,” the senator said. “He’s a good guy. He’s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him. But what he said there is dangerous as hell.”
“He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.’ And I got to say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.'”
Cruz later added: “I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, ‘We’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying.'”
“And it might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel,” the senator said. “But when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.”
