The Federal Communications Commission chief blasted news outlets owned by Comcast over their coverage of a case involving a mistakenly deported man that the Trump administration contends is a gang member who entered the country illegally.
“Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public — implying that Abrego Garcia was merely a law abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular “Maryland man,” FCC chair Brendan Carr wrote in a post on social platform X. “When the truth comes out, they ignore it.”
Carr said Comcast, like all major media conglomerates that operate news divisions, “knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest.”
“News distortion doesn’t cut it,” he added.
Carr’s condemnation of NBC News and MSNBC’s parent company comes a day after President Trump issued a similar threat to the broadcast network and referenced Comcast’s plans to spin off its cable assets this year.
“Comcast, which also has the ailing network known as NBC, is trying to stay away from lawsuits by disassociating NBC from MSNBC, but it won’t work,” Trump wrote Tuesday in a social media post of his own. “Comcast, the owner of both, and it’s Chairman, Brian Roberts, are a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting!!!”
The president has ridiculed each of the major broadcast networks, which are regulated by Carr’s FCC, and suggested CBS, ABC and NBC see their broadcast licenses pulled or at least face more scrutiny from the federal government over coverage of him.
The White House all week has been pushing back forcefully on mainstream media coverage of Abrego Garcia’s case, accusing news outlets of portraying him in an overly positive light in opposition to Trump’s robust immigration agenda.
“Abrego Garcia came to America illegally from El Salvador, was validated as a member of the violent MS13 gang — a transnational criminal organization — and was denied bond by an immigration court for failure to show he would not pose a danger to others,” Carr wrote.
He added, “Why does Comcast ignore these facts of obvious public interest?”