A "Meet the Press" Host Says Trump's Endorsements Have Had "Mixed Results" — and He Answers That She Will Be "Reported to the FCC for Rebuke or Punishment," Prompting the Commission's Lone Democrat to Reply That It Has No Such Power

August 31, 2026

On Sunday, August 30, 2026, "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker said on the air that President Trump's primary endorsements this cycle had produced "mixed results" — a routine piece of election-season analysis nine weeks before the November 3 midterms. Trump answered on Truth Social by asking a federal regulator to act against her. Calling her "the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press," he disputed the characterization — citing what he said were win rates of 100 percent for his endorsed Senate candidates and 98 percent for House candidates, and pointing to primary victories by Senate candidate Darline Graham and House candidate Mike Mazzei — and wrote: "Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment." He added that he hoped FCC Chairman Brendan Carr "and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously," and in a separate post wrote that "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 no such authority. Its own rules state that the Commission "cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view," and it does not license individual journalists — it licenses stations. Anna Gomez, the Commission's only Democratic member and its most vocal internal critic of Carr's handling of broadcasters, said so directly within hours: "As I've said many times, the FCC has no authority to punish journalists this administration doesn't like. These threats to press freedom are dangerous. They undermine the foundation of our democracy, and they have no place in it." Carr, a Trump appointee, did not respond to CNN's request for comment. NBC News said Welker is "one of the best in the business" and that it stands behind her. The episode lands in the middle of a running fight over the FCC's posture toward broadcasters: Carr had already forced early license renewals on Disney's eight ABC stations after Trump publicly demanded ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel, a move ABC and Disney are now suing over on First Amendment grounds.