Trump Threatens To Report NBC’s Kristen Welker to the FCC for What He Says Is ‘Purposeful Inaccuracy’
Trump says NBC’s Kristen Welker misrepresented his endorsement record and should face FCC “rebuke or punishment.”
President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term criticizing news organizations and journalists over coverage he believes is unfair to him or his administration. He has frequently taken those complaints to social media, where he has also called on federal regulators to scrutinize broadcasters.
According to Reuters, Trump’s latest target is NBC News anchor Kristen Welker, with whom he has already had a contentious history, including a previous Meet the Press interview that ended with Trump walking off the set. The confrontation now comes alongside Welker’s assessment of Trump’s endorsement record in the 2026 Republican primary season, which the president has disputed.
The clash comes as the Trump administration has increasingly brought the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) into disputes involving major broadcasters. The agency has faced scrutiny over its handling of broadcast networks, while its own website claims it has limited authority to intervene in complaints about news content because of First Amendment protections.
Trump says Welker should face an FCC complaint
According to Reuters, Trump said Sunday that Welker would be reported to the FCC after she characterized his record of political endorsements as mixed. In a Truth Social post, he accused the NBC journalist of what he called “purposeful inaccuracy” and said she would be reported to the FCC for “rebuke or punishment.”
NBC defended Welker following the president’s comments. An NBC spokesperson told Reuters, “Kristen is one of the best in the business, and we stand by her.”
The president’s criticism centered on the results of candidates he endorsed during this year’s Republican primaries. Among those who won their contests were Darline Graham in the South Carolina Republican Senate runoff and Mike Mazzei in the Oklahoma Republican gubernatorial race. Trump-backed candidates also lost Republican gubernatorial primaries in Iowa, Georgia, Wyoming, and Minnesota.
In a separate Sunday post, Trump criticized polling and media coverage more broadly, writing, “THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE!”
The FCC has limited power to intervene in complaints about broadcast news content. The agency says on its website that replacing the journalistic judgment of broadcasters with its own would be inconsistent with the First Amendment, a line it has tested before amid recent FCC threats against broadcasters.
The latest comments also come amid other disputes between the administration and major broadcasters. Earlier this year, FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered early reviews of licenses for eight ABC stations, despite their renewals not being scheduled for consideration until 2028. ABC and its parent company, Disney, later sued the FCC, arguing that the administration was attempting to punish the network over its broadcast content.
The FCC is separately investigating NBC parent company Comcast’s relationships with its local broadcast television affiliates. Broadcast stations need FCC licenses to use the public airwaves, although license revocations are extremely rare.
No FCC action against Welker had been announced as of Sunday. For now, the president’s comments amount to a threat to file a complaint, leaving it unclear whether the dispute will result in any formal action by the agency.
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