FCC Commissioner Warns Trump’s Attacks on Journalist Pose a Dire Risk to Press Freedom

US President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order that aims to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 27, 2026. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is renaming Lake Ontario — a large body of water shared by the United States and Canada — “Lake America.” Trump signed an order in the White House, telling reporters the change was “effective immediately.” (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)

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FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez warns that President Trump’s repeated calls to penalize journalists for statements he dislikes “undermine the foundation of our democracy” and represent “dangerous threats to press freedom.”

The president has frequently characterized reporters as “enemies of the state.” His ire was particularly drawn on Sunday toward NBC’s Kristen Welker, who stated on Meet the Press that his endorsements of Republican candidates heading into the critical midterm elections have yielded “some mixed results.”

She Will Be Reported to the FCC for Reprimand or Punishment

Labeling Welker as the “Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press,” Trump asserted that his endorsed candidates had secured victories in 100% of U.S. Senate races and 98% of House contests. “How can anyone be permitted to say this while utilizing freely given Public Airwaves,” he questioned in a Truth Social post. “Due to this deliberate inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”

Gomez, the sole Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, countered the president’s claims, reminding him that “the FCC has no authority to punish journalists the administration disfavors.”

Gomez has previously challenged the administration, notably when Trump urged the FCC to target ABC over remarks made by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

“The FCC is once again targeting an administration critic through mob rule. Let’s not pretend this FCC hasn’t already predetermined its conclusion. All they desire is for their pro-censorship partisan allies to agree in lockstep. My message to Disney: Don’t flinch. Fight,” Gomez stated in an X post in May.

Gomez recently told The Hollywood Reporter that she hopes to secure reconfirmation for another term as FCC commissioner—her term technically expired in June—because she deems it essential that the commission remain a bipartisan body rather than a weapon for the president to deploy against his adversaries.

“I believe it is vital that we preserve someone who pushes back against this administration’s overreach,” she noted.

Trump’s Track Record on Endorsements

Regarding Welker’s assertion that Trump has had a “mixed” record of endorsing candidates, the assessment depends on the metrics used. According to Ballotpedia, the president endorsed 332 candidates in 2026, achieving a 96% success rate in primaries thus far. Many of these were low-stakes races, and Trump’s endorsements missed the mark in far more consequential contests, such as his backing of Burt Jones for Georgia governor and Randy Feenstra for Iowa governor—both of whom lost their respective primaries.

Looking further back to the previous year, Trump’s endorsement success rate plummeted to just 43%, with significant misses including the New Jersey gubernatorial race and his endorsement of Andrew Cuomo, who lost the New York City mayoral race to Zohran Mamdani.

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