The head of the Federal Communications Commission slammed Comcast-owned news outlets for their coverage of a case involving a mistakenly deported Salvadoran immigrant who the Trump administration claims is a gang member.
“Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public — implying that Abrego Garcia was simply a law-abiding US citizen, just a regular “Maryland man,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote in a post on the social media platform X. “When the truth comes out, they ignore it.”
Carr stated that Comcast, like all major media conglomerates with news divisions, “knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest.”
“News distortion doesn’t cut it,” he concluded.
Carr’s criticism of NBC News and MSNBC’s parent company comes just a day after President Trump issued a similar threat to the broadcast network, citing Comcast’s plans to spin off cable assets this year.
“Comcast, which also owns the ailing network known as NBC, is attempting to avoid lawsuits by disassociating NBC from MSNBC, but it will fail,” Trump wrote Tuesday in his own social media post. “Comcast, the owner of both, and it’s Chairman, Brian Roberts, are a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting!!!”
The president has mocked all of the major broadcast networks, which are regulated by Carr’s FCC, and suggested that CBS, ABC, and NBC could lose their broadcast licenses or face increased scrutiny from the federal government for their coverage of him.
The White House has been strongly opposing mainstream media coverage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case this week, accusing the outlets of portraying him in an overly positive light in contrast to Trump’s robust immigration agenda.
“Abrego Garcia came to America illegally from El Salvador, was validated as a member of the violent MS13 gang — a transnational criminal organization — and was denied bond by an immigration court for failure to show he would not pose a danger to others,” according to Carr.
He questioned: “Why does Comcast ignore these facts of obvious public interest?”