What to know about Brendan Carr, the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission

Brendan Carr listens during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2020. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via AP)

WASHINGTON — ABC took comic Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show off the air indefinitely Wednesday, just hours after U.S. Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr called his comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination “truly sick.”

Carr is a longtime FCC commissioner named as chairman by U.S. President Donald Trump in November. In the months since, he has launched investigations of ABC, CBS and NBC news.

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,” Carr said in July, after the FCC approved CBS owner Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance.

Here’s what to know about Carr:

Carr is a longtime FCC commissioner

The FCC regulates broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.

Carr was already a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and both Trump and President Joe Biden nominated him to the commission.

Before joining the commission as a staff member in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

He has more recently embraced Trump’s ideas about social media and tech. He wrote a section devoted to the FCC in “ Project 2025,” a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Trump has claimed he didn’t know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements.

The FCC takes on broadcast networks

In March, Carr said he was opening an investigation into Walt Disney Co. and ABC to see whether they are “promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” He also opened separate investigations into CBS and NBC news.

Talking about the Kimmel situation on Fox News Wednesday, he said broadcasters with FCC licenses have “a unique obligation to operate in the public interest. And over the years, the FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation. I don’t think we’re better off as a country for it.”

In July, he hailed the Paramount-Skydance merger as an opportunity to bring more balance to “once-storied” CBS.

FCC approval of the merger came after months of turmoil around Trump’s legal battle with the CBS program “60 Minutes.” With the specter of the Trump administration potentially blocking the deal, Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement with the president.

CBS then announced it was canceling Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” just days after the comedian sharply criticized the settlement on air. Paramount cited financial reasons, but big names both within and outside the company have questioned those motives.

Shortly before the FCC approved the merger, Paramount agreed to hire an ombudsman at CBS News to investigate complaints of political bias. The job went to Kenneth Weinstein, the former head of a conservative think tank who has made several donations to Republican causes, including President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Carr takes on Kimmel

On Wednesday, Carr said Kimmel appeared to be making an intentional effort to mislead the public that conservative activist Kirk’s assassin was a right-wing Trump supporter. He called Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death “truly sick” and said his agency has a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and Disney accountable for spreading misinformation.

Kirk, a top conservative podcaster, was shot and killed last week at an appearance on a college campus in Utah.

Kimmel made several remarks about the reaction to Kirk’s death last week on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” including that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr said on the Benny Johnson podcast. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

House Democratic leaders on Thursday called for Carr’s resignation and accused him of “bullying” ABC into suspending Kimmel.

In a joint statement, the leaders — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — said the move was part of Trump and Republicans’ effort to wage a “war on the First Amendment.”

The Associated Press