Senator Ted Cruz has become the most prominent Republican to criticize Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, saying President Donald Trump’s top media regulator resorted to “mafioso” behavior to pressure Disney Corp.’s ABC to remove late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Cruz, the chairman of the Commerce Committee and a frequent defender of the Trump administration, took to his podcast in the wake of Kimmel’s indefinite suspension this week to describe Carr’s actions as “dangerous.”
Carr earlier in the week implied on another podcast that ABC could face serious consequences from the government over Kimmel’s remarks about the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Only hours later, ABC pulled Kimmel’s show.
Cruz said he doesn’t believe the government should punish media companies over political disagreements.
“I like Brendan Carr, he’s a good guy,” Cruz said on his podcast, which was taped late Thursday. “But what he said there is dangerous as hell.”
“That’s right outta ‘Goodfellas,’ that’s right out of a mafioso going into a bar saying, ‘Nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it,’” Cruz said, using the iconic New York accent associated with the Mafia. “If the government gets in the business of saying ‘We don’t like what you the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”
Throughout the podcast, Cruz emphasized he disagreed with Kimmel’s comments, which he called “reprehensible.” But he said a defamation case would have been a better approach than Carr’s intervention.
“It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but if it is used to silence every person in America, we will regret it,” Cruz said. “I like Brendan Carr but we should not be in this business.”
Trump rejected Cruz’s criticism of the FCC chair.
“I think Brendan Carr is a great American patriot. So I disagree with Ted Cruz,” Trump told reporters later Friday during an event in the Oval Office.
Cruz and Kimmel have their own history.
The Texas US senator challenged Kimmel to a one-on-one basketball game after the comedian mocked his appearance during a show. Kimmel accepted, with the proceeds from the 2018 event going to charities the two men chose.
In a brief interview in the US Capitol on Friday, Cruz noted the FCC falls under his committee’s jurisdiction even as he took a swing at the other party.
“When the Democrats had the majority they did not engage in oversight,” he said. “We will do our job and engage in oversight.”
Republican Senator Thom Tillis, a moderate who is not running for reelection in the swing state of North Carolina, applauded Cruz for taking a stand on what he called “unacceptable” behavior from the administration.
Cruz “showed a lot of courage, and he will be on the right side of history and he’s definitely on the right side of the law,” Tillis said.
Most Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have spent days insisting Disney made its own financial decision by suspending Kimmel and declining to criticize Carr. Carr said the company made its own decision but said there will be more changes to the media ecosystem ahead.
Democrats have uniformly said Carr has violated the First Amendment and have called on Republicans to push back.
“Republican senators should not want to see a weaponized FCC that can go after conservative commentators by some future administration,” said Senator Adam Schiff of California.