Trump threatens NBC host Kristen Welker with FCC complaint over midterm coverage

Truth Social post and regulatory threats

Donald Trump announced on Sunday that NBC News anchor Kristen Welker would be reported to the Federal Communications Commission for disciplinary action. The Republican president took issue with Welker's assessment during a local segment on Washington affiliate WRC, where she previewed Meet the Press and described Trump's record in candidate endorsements ahead of the November midterms as mixed. Welker did not repeat the phrase during the national broadcast, instead noting in the preview that Trump would loom large over the election cycle. On Truth Social, Trump derided Welker as the unpopular host of Meet the Fake Press, accusing her of purposeful inaccuracy and questioning how such statements could be permitted on publicly allocated airwaves.

Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.

Trump added that he hoped FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and other commissioners would treat the broadcast as a serious threat to the country, claiming that news networks routinely libel his political movement.

Primary endorsements and midterm record

Trump accompanied his criticism with an unattributed chart claiming that 98% of his endorsed candidates had won their primary races. Sourced election tallies indicate that Trump has endorsed over 300 winning candidates, including 214 victories out of 218 endorsed House candidates and 24 wins across 24 Republican Senate primaries. However, five of his 21 endorsed gubernatorial candidates lost their races. Those defeats included Mike Lindell, who lost the Minnesota Republican primary by 11 percentage points to state house speaker Lisa Demuth, a defeat confirmed on Saturday when the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected Lindell's petition for a recount. Trump maintained on 23 August that his endorsements were stronger than ever, pointing to primary victories by Darline Graham, the sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham, in South Carolina and Mike Mazzei in Oklahoma. He stated that any endorsed candidates who lost had faced impossible races but had earned backing out of personal loyalty.

Prior clashes and broadcast litigation

Tensions between Trump and Welker follow an adversarial exchange in June, when Trump abruptly ended a one-on-one interview over questions regarding the 2020 presidential election and foreign policy in Iran. Before removing his microphone and exiting the room, Trump condemned national television news organizations.

Your elections are crooked, and you're crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked and so is ABC and CBS and CNN. You're one-sided crooked networks.

Trump has also pursued legal action against several media outlets, filing a $10 billion civil defamation lawsuit against the BBC last year over an edited video clip from 6 January 2021. His administration has filed lawsuits against print publications including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, alongside reductions in federal funding for public broadcasting.

Regulatory pressure under Brendan Carr

The complaint against NBC coincides with increased regulatory scrutiny under FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. While the commission lacks legal authority to penalize individual journalists directly, it oversees broadcast licences held by network station owners, including NBCUniversal, which parent company Comcast plans to spin off. Multiple broadcasting organizations have challenged the agency's actions in federal court, alleging that regulatory pressure constitutes political retaliation in violation of First Amendment free speech protections. Walt Disney Company and ABC filed a lawsuit against the FCC in the US District Court for the District of Columbia this month after the agency ordered early licence renewal filings for eight company-owned stations. That order followed administration demands to dismiss late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, alongside an FCC equal-time investigation opened after Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico appeared on The View in February following January guidance covering daytime programs.