FCC Chair Carr Says Broadcasters 'Should Want' to Air Trump's Election Speech

On July 15, 2026, the day before President Trump's primetime address on elections, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told NewsNation anchor Leland Vittert that broadcasters 'should want' to carry the speech live, saying 'I do think that this is something that the American people have every right to be able to get over the airwaves.' When pressed on whether airing the address was part of broadcasters' public-interest obligations as FCC licensees, Carr declined to answer directly, saying 'I'll avoid sort of generating the headline on this one, but I do think it's one that a lot of people are going to be interested in and want to see.' Carr, a Trump appointee who has already ordered an early license-renewal review of eight ABC-owned stations and scrutinized ABC's 'The View' over equal-time rules, made the remarks as some Democrats publicly urged networks not to carry the address. Press-freedom observers and media reporters noted that the head of the licensing agency itself was weighing in one day before Trump threatened to revoke ABC and NBC's licenses over the same dispute; after the speech, Carr did not respond to requests for comment on Trump's threat, and the FCC's lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, later called any such license threat 'a naked attempt to bully broadcasters.'

“Anytime the president of the United States stands up there in prime time to deliver information or news or content, I think broadcasters should want to make sure the American public can see that.” Quote verified against source