Trump wants ABC and NBC licenses revoked. Can that happen?
This article was originally published in USA TODAY on July 17, 2026, as part of the First Amendment Reporters Initiative, which is made possible by a collaboration among Freedom Forum, Journalism Funding Partners and the USA TODAY Network. Freedom Forum and JFP did not provide editorial input.
President Donald Trump called for ABC and NBC’s licenses to be revoked over not airing his July 16 primetime address focused on election security.
Toward the end of his nearly 26-minute long address from the White House, Trump criticized the networks for not broadcasting it live, alleging that the decision was made “because of the fact that they don’t like the topic.”
“Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses,” he said. “They use our public, multi-billion dollar in value, airways for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting.”
The networks did air his speech on their respective streaming platforms and provide coverage of his statements afterward.
NBC declined to comment. USA TODAY reached out to ABC.
Experts told USA TODAY that while the Federal Communications Commission has limited power to revoke broadcast licenses, doing so over a network’s editorial decision-making would be unconstitutional.
“The First Amendment doesn’t permit the president to demand coverage by royal decree,” said Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “This is First Amendment law 101.”
Here’s what to know.
How has the FCC responded to Trump's comments?
The FCC did not return USA TODAY’s request for comment on July 17. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who has previously threatened broadcast licenses over networks’ Iran war coverage, had not issued a public statement on the matter as of early that afternoon.
Commissioner Anna Gomez, appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2023, said Trump’s call to revoke licenses was “ridiculous” in a statement provided to USA TODAY.
She said the FCC “has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech.”
She reiterated those sentiments in a July 17 X post, which also included screenshots of news headlines reporting the networks’ previous decisions to not air speeches from Biden or former President Barack Obama during their respective terms.
“This is a naked attempt to bully broadcasters, and the FCC should have no part in it,” Gomez said.
Her response echoed previous statements in which she has accused the FCC of engaging in partisan politics to support Trump’s objectives.
Can the FCC revoke licenses over not airing Trump’s speech?
Not according to First Amendment experts.
“The government is not in charge of deciding what is newsworthy and what isn’t newsworthy, what needs to be carried live and what doesn’t,” Institute for Free Speech President David Keating said.
But given Carr’s past statements and the FCC’s previous actions against broadcasters under the Trump administration, both Keating and Corn-Revere said an attempt to pull licenses over editorial decision-making is possible.
“It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if he (Carr) tried it, but I don’t think it would be successful in the end,” Keating said.
The process, however, would still be time-consuming and costly for the networks, he said.
How do news companies decide what to carry live?
There are a number of factors that can shape if and how a news company covers a particular event, media strategist and consultant Haddie Djemal told USA TODAY.
They can include the perceived importance or relevance of the event to the audience, as well as whether it will include new information, verifiable facts or serve a "speaker's need to speak or persuade," she said.
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