Trump Administration’s Review of ABC’s Broadcast Licenses Looks Like ‘Illegal Jawboning’

When he returned to the White House in January 2025, one of the first things President Donald Trump did was sign an executive order aimed at “restoring freedom of speech.”

Among other things, that order prohibited any federal “officer, employee, or agent” from engaging in “any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”

Like Trump’s approval rating, that commitment to the First Amendment seems to have significantly eroded during the past 15 months. On Tuesday, the Trump administration escalated its war with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and his employer, Disney, over a joke that Kimmel told last week, when he called First Lady Melania Trump an “expectant widow.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reportedly reviewing broadcast licenses held by ABC, which is owned by Disney. The FCC is calling those licenses in for an “early renewal” process, even though they were not scheduled to be renewed until 2028, according to Semafor, which first reported the news.

Officially, the review is to determine whether Disney engaged in “unlawful discrimination,” the FCC said in a filing on Tuesday.

But the timing of the review makes this look like another attempt by the administration to force Kimmel’s ouster. In the wake of Saturday’s attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Trump posted on Truth Social that “Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

The early review process is a little-used tactic that could trigger a lengthy hearing process, notes CNN media reporter Brian Stelter. It doesn’t mean the licenses will ultimately be revoked, but defending against the government’s aggression could cost Disney a significant sum of money.

The Trump administration had previously issued threats to pull ABC’s broadcast licenses in response to jokes Kimmel told in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year. In an interview amid that controversy, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said “these companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel…or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Unlike then, when Kimmel’s show was pulled off the air for several days, Disney has so far stood up to the administration’s threats. In a statement on Tuesday, Disney said it was “confident” that its record “demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels.”

On Monday, Kimmel acknowledged the current controversy. “Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I and as are all of us, because under the First Amendment we have as Americans a right to free speech,” he said.

The FCC’s review of ABC’s broadcast licenses drew immediate criticism from First Amendment advocates.

“The First Amendment and the FCC’s mandate do not permit the agency to use broadcast licenses as weapons to punish broadcasters for constitutionally protected content they air,” Seth Stern, chief of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in an emailed statement. “The FCC is neither the journalism police nor the humor police. This is nothing but illegal jawboning intended to intimidate ABC into kissing the ring.”

The context of Kimmel’s remarks makes the backlash look even more absurd. As Angel Eduardo, a senior writer for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, put it in a piece published Monday at Unherd, it is obvious that Kimmel’s quip was a “Trump is really old” joke and not a “Trump is going to be the subject of an assassination attempt this Saturday” joke.

Kimmel’s comments about Melania Trump were in bad taste, but it seems simply ridiculous for the Trump administration to get bent out of shape over some crass political commentary.

Since stepping into the political arena a decade ago, Trump has lobbed a nonstop barrage of insults and innuendos at his political opponents. Just weeks ago, he threatened to exterminate the entire Iranian civilization in a single night. Spare me the faux outrage over this, or the attempt to pin the actions of any would-be assassin on the words of a TV host.

The Trump administration’s willingness to discard the First Amendment in pursuit of settling a score with Kimmel is another worrisome erosion of Americans’ constitutional right to say whatever they want. It also directly violates Trump’s own executive order promising to stop exactly this sort of conduct.