President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened a prominent NBC broadcast journalist with possible punishment by US media regulators as the Republican expressed disappointment with coverage of his candidate endorsements ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The Republican billionaire used American media to his advantage over the years as a provocative real estate developer in New York. But as president he dramatically turned against the press and what he called “fake news. His administration, from the Pentagon to the FBI, has ramped up restrictions and attempts to intimidate journalists, and the FCC — headed by a close Trump associate — has pressured broadcasters to toe the line. The latest attack is part of the Trump administration’s months-long offensive against media outlets it deems overly critical.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to attack Kristen Welker as the “unpopular ‘hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press” talk show for stating that the president had “mixed results” on his endorsement of political candidates in party primaries, insisting the results went his way 98 percent to 100 percent of the time. “Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” he said, referring to the Federal Communications Commission, which assigns and oversees licenses for radio and television broadcast frequencies. “I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously,” Trump said.
