White House Escalates Criticism of ABC News as FCC Launches Licensing Review

The White House intensified its criticism of ABC News on Wednesday, following President Donald Trump’s sharp rebuke of an ABC correspondent who questioned Saudi Arabia’s crown prince about the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The dispute escalated as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a review of agreements between national networks and their local broadcast affiliates—a move that came shortly after Trump suggested that Disney-owned ABC stations should have their broadcast licenses revoked for what he labeled “insubordinate” questioning.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the review will assess when local stations are allowed to preempt national programming for public interest reasons. While networks cannot lose licenses—since the FCC only grants licenses to individual stations—the review could have significant implications for how broadcasters manage national content.

The White House press office issued a strongly worded statement calling ABC News “a Democratic spin operation masquerading as a broadcast network,” and accused it of waging a long-running “war” against Trump and his supporters. ABC News declined to comment.

The tensions come on the heels of an incident in September, when Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group temporarily opted not to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” across 70 ABC-affiliated stations. The move occurred after Kimmel made controversial remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Carr had warned that stations airing the show risked fines or potential license issues, comments that sparked bipartisan backlash. He is scheduled to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on December 17.

The FCC notice issued Wednesday questioned whether national networks hold excessive power to pressure local stations and asked whether new regulations are needed to prevent “anticompetitive leverage.” The inquiry also follows multiple investigations Carr has initiated into major media companies, including Comcast and, more recently, the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media.

In December, ABC News paid $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a lawsuit tied to comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos related to the E. Jean Carroll civil case.