According to Trump, journalists are “not allowed” to criticize him.
He made the remark aboard Air Force One while returning from the U.K., framing it as part of his defense of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who had pressured ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show after the host commented on the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel’s show was suspended indefinitely.
“They’re 97% against ‒ they give me only bad publicity or press. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr,” Trump added.
Trump argued that a network’s treatment of him should factor into FCC licensing decisions.
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“When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump ‒ that’s all they do. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat Party.”
🚨MAJOR BREAKING: Trump was just caught on a hot mic telling journalists that they are “not allowed” to criticize him.
“…You have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump…They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
YES THEY F*CKING ARE. pic.twitter.com/bTjXNLGAlv
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) September 18, 2025
Carr has aligned closely with Trump since being appointed FCC chairman. Trump praised him, calling Carr “a great patriot.”
Trump also defended the cancellation of Kimmel’s show, dismissing free speech concerns. He said it was “more than anything else” about bad ratings and criticized Kimmel for making “a horrible remark about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.”
Kimmel’s show ranks second among late-night hosts, behind CBS’s Stephen Colbert. Trump previously celebrated the criticism of Colbert and warned that Kimmel could be next.
ABC pulled the show on Sept. 17 after Nexstar Media Group said it would stop airing it on 32 ABC affiliates. Nexstar called Kimmel’s comments “offensive and insensitive.”
Before the cancellation, Carr warned ABC and affiliates on a podcast with conservative commentator Benny Johnson: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The comment in question came during Kimmel’s Sept. 15 monologue: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
Some interpreted it as falsely claiming the shooter was a MAGA supporter.
Earlier, on Aug. 24, Trump had made similar threats against networks on Truth Social. He said ABC and NBC “should lose their Licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!!”
Featured image via X screengrab
