FCC chief: Taxpayer-funded ads touting Trump ‘don’t raise any red flags’

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head Brendan Carr swatted away concerns about a pro-Trump TV advertisement billed as a public service announcement that sparked outrage from Democrats and government watchdogs this week.

The ad, paid for by the U.S. government , blasts communism, socialism and Marxism in the U.S. and casts the president in a positive light with less than a month before the midterm elections.

Trump is heard on the ad saying “together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America” and, “America will never be a communist country.”

Asked about complaints from the activist group Public Citizen and others about the ads, Carr said the ad struck him as “normal course public service announcements that you see all the time.”

And Carr demurred when asked about Republicans on Capitol Hill who have expressed discomfort with the ad.

“There’s nothing in there that strikes me as out of the ordinary or that would merit any sort of FCC review,” Carr said of the ad that has aired on a number of broadcast and cable channels. “There are groups on the left that have long worked and pushed to weaponize the FCC’s license renewal process. I’m sure they’ll do it again in the future. Again with respect to these, they are normal PSAs that don’t raise any red flags.”

Carr is a Trump ally who has launched investigations into several media companies with news and entertainment divisions that publish reporting and commentary critical of the president.

He has vowed to ensure broadcasters are serving the “public interest” and called for the firing of ABC comedian Jimmy Kimmel over comments he made about the Republican response to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Disney, which owns ABC, is currently suing Trump’s FCC for what it says is targeting the media conglomerate for license renewal based on the broadcasters editorial decisions.

A hearing in that case is slated for next week.