The FCC has a highway for complaints about Trump’s media critics

Small wallet The legal group used direct access to the FCC Chairman’s office last September to expedite the complaint Targeting Jimmy Kimmel and employer ABC, according to internal emails obtained by WIRED.

Emails show the group directed its files to President Brendan Carr senior advisors, avoiding the professional staff who normally review such complaints.

The correspondence provides a detailed look at how the Center for American Rights (CAR), whose files often criticize the press through… President Donald Trumppresented the legal arguments used in appeals against broadcast networks. Kimmel was briefly suspended in September after threats from the Federal Communications Commission, drawing condemnation from press freedom advocates and First Amendment scholars.

The backlash against Kimmel and ABC followed comments Carr made on a conservative podcast about Kimmel’s monologue discussing The murder of Charlie Kirk. Carr suggested ABC affiliates could face regulatory scrutiny if they take no action.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies could find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there will be additional FCC action in the future.”

The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Records show that Daniel Suhr — CAR’s president and former policy director for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — had a direct line to CAR’s top legal advisers and used it to funnel files around consumer affairs staff. The emails show that CAR provided the president’s office for months with a steady supply of legal theories that could be used in attacks against major broadcast networks, angering the Trump administration.

Carr’s predecessor, Jessica Rosenworcel, dismissed three previous complaints from the group against ABC, CBS and NBC, calling them “contrary to the First Amendment.” Carr repeated those complaints shortly after taking office.

By September 2025, the group’s efforts had already influenced regulatory action. CAR complaint against CBS regarding A 60 minutes Interview with Kamala Harris It became a lever in the agency’s review of the Paramount-Skydance merger, which was approved in July after Skydance committed to installing a… Conservative Ombudsman On CBS News.

After reaching out to Suhr for comment, he told WIRED that CAR adheres to all FCC rules on public comment and ex parte meetings, and that its initial complaint in September was filed through the agency’s consumer complaint portal with copies of the relevant staff. He says the supplemental file was put together quickly after Carr’s appearance on the podcast because the group had already done extensive advance research on smears on the news, Kimmel and late-night television and had no advance notice of the chairman’s remarks.

“In this case, we filed our initial September complaint with the FCC’s public consumer complaint portal and, as it says, sent a copy of it to the relevant staff,” Suhr says.

Suhr also claims that the news distortion standard covers misleading viewers, not just literal falsehood. It also refers to A 2018 letter from Senate Democrats Urges FCC to investigate Sinclair for news distortion and says CAR demands balanced application of public interest standards.

Suhr has argued in interviews that broadcasters are failing in their public interest obligations under communications law, citing Democratic-leaning late-night programming and a general lack of trust in national news. When asked in February whether the outcome he was seeking was conservative dominance of American broadcasting, Suhr agreed. “Yes, I will be thrilled with this result,” he said.

Emails obtained by WIRED show that Suhr sent his complaint against Kimmel directly to two of his top aides in Carr’s office on September 4, shortly after filing it through the FCC’s public complaints system. The email, which began with “Dear Erin and Katie,” was addressed to Erin Boone, Carr’s senior advisor for media and law enforcement, and Katie McAuliffe, policy advisor to the chairman. Suhr also attached a 12-page binder and five opposition research documents, giving Carr’s office his ticket number so they could “easily find him in the FCC’s consumer complaint system.”

Boone also served as acting head of the Information Office, the department with direct jurisdiction over television and radio broadcast licensing. Emails show that FCC staff have standing instructions to direct CAR complaints directly to it.