Trump threatens CBS's license after Harris interview. But can the president remove a broadcaster from the airwaves?

In the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump’s attacks on mainstream news media seem to have reached a crescendo.

Trump has publicly railed for years against particular journalists or news outlets that he views as unfavorable, often calling the news media “the enemy of the people.” But in recent weeks, the former president has ramped up threats to use the government if he is re-elected to punish broadcast news networks that air interviews, ads or other programming that he dislikes.

In particular, Trump has repeatedly gone after CBS, accusing the network of deceptively editing an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, which aired on 60 Minutes on Oct. 7. (Trump backed out of his own 60 Minutes interview before that program was broadcast.) Trump claimed the final broadcast of the 60 Minutes interview was misleading and therefore proof that the network had a pro-Harris bias.

“60 Minutes should be immediately taken off the air [for] election interference. CBS should lose its license. This is the biggest scandal in broadcast history,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 17.

Trump has since posted several times asking CBS to release the 60 Minutes interview transcript. On Oct. 22, he shared screenshots of his lawyer’s letter to CBS News demanding the network “immediately provide and publicly release the full, unedited transcript of [the] 60 Minutes interview.”

Trump’s latest line of attack against CBS and other broadcasters highlights the government’s role in broadcast television licensing and raises questions about whether the president has the power to control what’s allowed on the airwaves.

Why is Trump going after CBS?

The recent rants against CBS stem from the discrepancy between a promotional clip of Harris’s answer to a question on the Middle East, which aired on Face the Nation on Oct. 6, and a shorter version of the same answer that was aired as part of the full interview on 60 Minutes the following day.

In the interview, the host, Bill Whitaker, asks Harris, “Does the U.S. have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?”

In the Face the Nation preview clip, as transcribed by The Hill on Oct. 6, Harris says, “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.”

According to the interview transcript CBS published, during the portion of the interview aired on 60 Minutes, Harris answers, “The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles.”

In a statement on Oct. 20, 60 Minutes said the program “gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response.”

“When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point,” the statement continued. “The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide-ranging 21-minute-long segment.”

But that hasn’t stopped Trump from seizing on the difference between the two clips as proof of CBS’s alleged bias toward Harris.

During a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump doubled down on the threats to CBS, saying, “We’re going to subpoena their records.”

What does the government have to do with TV broadcast licenses?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the independent government agency that regulates broadcasting to ensure it serves “public interest, convenience and necessity.” Broadcasters are responsible for choosing what material they air and the FCC monitors that material — not to prevent particular ideas or information from being shared, but to ensure rules and regulations are being followed (such as blurring out nudity or censoring certain language).

Big broadcast networks like ABC, CBS and NBC do not need licenses to produce or publish news content; but local affiliates do require broadcasting licenses. Those licenses are approved by the FCC, which is separate from the White House.

The FCC is a five-person board on which a maximum of three people can be from the same political party. It currently includes two Republicans: Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr.

Does the president have the power to punish broadcasters?

The FCC has shut down any reason to believe Trump could follow through with revoking broadcast licenses. In an Oct. 10 statement, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called Trump’s accusations “serious and should not be ignored,” clarifying that “The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”

Theoretically, if Trump were re-elected and the Senate returns to Republican control, a third Republican could be appointed to the FCC board. However, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a senior counselor for the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, told Yahoo News that even if Trump returns to the White House, he “can’t just direct” the FCC to do whatever he wants.

“There’s a lot of precedent,” Schwartzman said. “Members of the FCC, especially Republican members of the FCC, have been historically very, very pro-broadcaster and very protective of broadcasters.”

Hypothetically, if Trump were to somehow sway the FCC to deviate from its precedent and go against broadcasters, the 1996 Communications Act would not allow the agency simply to revoke a broadcasting license. Trump and the FCC would have to wait, Schwartzman explained, until the licensing contracts were up and then reject the renewal application. Even then, the contracts aren’t up until the middle of 2028.

“The timing, the technical aspects of it, it’s just politically, procedurally, legally not really practical to talk about doing it,” Schwartzman explained.

For Schwartzman and some other legal experts, the real concern is how Trump’s rhetoric could be seen by the average American as a threat to their First Amendment rights.

“Trump has as much standing to hassle a broadcaster about their license as any other citizen,” Schwartzman said. “The hassle factor and the threat to First Amendment values is very real and genuine and a reason to be concerned. But is it going to result in the loss of an over-the-air broadcast license? No.”

In a statement issued to Yahoo News, Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, said, “the threat from any politician to revoke a broadcast license simply because they disagree with the station’s content undermines” the First Amendment.

What other news outlets has Trump gone after?

After the presidential debate in September, Trump also suggested that ABC’s broadcasting license should be taken away. In an interview with Fox & Friends, he said, “They ought to take away their license for the way they did” the debate.

In September, Trump announced on Truth Social that if re-elected, he would investigate Comcast, the parent company for NBC and MSNBC, so that it could be “thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage” and “investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason.’”

These threats aren’t new, either. In 2016, before winning the election, Trump suggested that his lawyers wanted him to file a lawsuit against the New York Times for “irresponsible intent.” In 2022, he even suggested taking legal action against Fox News for airing ads for the Lincoln Project, a political action committee for conservatives against Trump.