President Donald Trump has threatened to bring the full power of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission against NBC News’ Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker over a comment made about his influence in the electorate, marking the first time he’s wielded the power of a U.S. agency to threaten an individual journalist by name.
Welker’s comment was made not on Meet the Press but while on local Washington, D.C. affiliate WRC-TV. The 20-year veteran broadcast journalist said of Trump: “He’s going to loom large over these midterms. There’s no doubt about that. He, of course, has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries. He’s had some mixed results, but most recently, his pick of Senator Darline Graham, of course, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, was successful in her primary battle, so now she takes on Dr. Annie Andrews in South Carolina.”
Welker’s comment may seem innocuous or even complimentary to Trump by suggesting an outsized importance in this year’s elections. But he did not see it that way.
“Kristen Welker, the unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results’ on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House, recently and over the long term. How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Unfortunately, she is not the only one. The Radical Left News is going out of their way to harass, demean, and libel anything ‘TRUMP.’ Their new weapon is to say that my 99% SUCCESS Rate on Endorsements, 100% on Senatorial Endorsements (Many of whom were not even given a shot of winning until I Endorsed!), is either a mixed result, or not very good. In actuality, it is, without question, the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics.”
Were Trump to follow through on the threat, it would be a difficult case for the FCC to make. Welker’s comment contains nothing that is, by any stretch, factually false. Trump has been weighing in heavily on the midterm races, frequently endorsing candidates who have stepped out of line from the MAGA agenda. Full-throated endorsements of primary challengers over Trump critics have already ousted Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District.
But not every candidate he’s endorsed has won.
Notable Trump-endorsed candidates who lost their races include incumbent U.S. Rep. Cory Mills in Florida’s 7th District, who was defeated by Ryan Elijah, a former TV news anchor. And in Minnesota, state House Speaker Lisa Demuth defeated MyPillow’s Mike Lindell by 11 points in the Republican primary for governor.
Welker’s characterization was also backed up by the FCC’s Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, who recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter. Weighing in on Trump’s threat, Gomez reiterated her line on such threats to the First Amendment.
“As I’ve said many times, the FCC has no authority to punish journalists this administration doesn’t like,” she said. “These threats to press freedom are dangerous. They undermine the foundation of our democracy, and they have no place in it.”
An NBC News spokesperson told THR: “Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her.”
Trump’s threat comes as Disney/ABC sues the FCC over the agency’s efforts to challenge its broadcast licenses and the content of The View, alleging the Trump administration is violating the network’s free speech rights.
