ABC to federal judge: Trump’s FCC is holding our head on a ‘guillotine’

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ABC argued in federal court Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s FCC has “chilled” the network’s free speech by using its “enormous regulatory power to coerce, threaten, punish” coverage the administration doesn’t like.

The Disney-owned network is seeking a preliminary injunction to block the FCC’s order requiring early renewal applications for all eight of the local stations it owns, even though those licenses don’t expire for years. ABC sued the government over the unusual order in August.

The license-renewal order was an extraordinary escalation of the administration’s months-long effort to pressure ABC and Disney, which has included Trump’s repeated calls for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel and the FCC’s probes into Disney’s DEI practices, ABC’s relationship with its local affiliates, and whether “The View” violated the so-called “equal-time” rule.

“We are chilled,” Beth Wilkinson, the attorney for ABC, told US District Judge Loren AliKhan during the nearly two-hour hearing. “We are watching everything that we do.”

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Wilkinson cited ABC’s decision not to carry Trump’s July prime-time address containing unverified election claims, saying that editorial choice had provoked “the anger in the administration and the retaliation from the agency.” During the address, Trump attacked ABC for not airing it and threatened the network’s station licenses.

The threat of losing those station licenses, Wilkinson said, amounts to a “corporate death penalty” for ABC.

Invoking the French Revolution, Wilkinson compared the administration’s pressure to keeping the network’s “head on the guillotine” as it continues reporting, leaving ABC to “wonder if anything we say is going to make that come down.”

FCC lawyers argued that the US District Court lacks jurisdiction to review the agency’s license-renewal order and that ABC is a “regulated entity that is undergoing a review by its regulator” and cannot circumvent the regulatory process with this First Amendment case.

Brendan Carr, the Trump-aligned FCC chair, has repeatedly asserted that the fight is all about Disney’s DEI practices, though former FCC officials from both parties have cast doubt on that claim.

During an FCC meeting last week, Carr said Disney’s First Amendment lawsuit is a “very odd choice,” lodged “in the wrong court” and at “the wrong time.”

Wilkinson took aim at Carr during the hearing, saying that Trump has “total control” over Carr and that the FCC chair “understands his marching orders.”

The result, she said, has been “blatant violations of the US Constitution.”

Judge AliKhan did not issue a ruling on Tuesday. She gave both sides through Wednesday, Oct. 14, to provide additional materials and responses.

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ABC电视台周二在联邦法院辩称，唐纳德·特朗普总统领导的联邦通信委员会利用其“巨大的监管权力来胁迫、威胁、惩罚”政府不喜欢的报道，从而“扼杀”了该电视台的言论自由。

迪士尼旗下的ABC电视台正寻求初步禁令，以阻止联邦通信委员会（FCC）要求其旗下所有八家地方电视台提前提交续期申请的命令，尽管这些许可证的有效期还有数年才到期。ABC已于8月就这项不同寻常的命令起诉政府。

此次续签执照的命令标志着政府数月来向 ABC 和迪士尼施压的行动达到了前所未有的程度。此前，特朗普曾多次呼吁 ABC 解雇吉米·坎摩尔，而联邦通信委员会 (FCC) 也对迪士尼的多元化、公平和包容 (DEI) 做法、ABC 与其地方附属机构的关系以及《观点》节目是否违反了所谓的“平等时间”规则展开了调查。

“我们感到很紧张，”ABC的律师贝丝·威尔金森在近两个小时的听证会上告​​诉美国地区法官洛伦·阿里汗，“我们正在密切关注我们的一举一动。”

关于迪士尼与美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）的诉讼，你需要了解哪些信息？

威尔金森援引美国广播公司（ABC）不播出特朗普7月黄金时段讲话的决定，称该讲话包含未经证实的选举言论，并表示这一编辑选择激怒了“政府内部，并招致了该机构的报复”。在讲话中，特朗普抨击ABC未播出该讲话，并威胁要吊销该电视台的执照。

威尔金森表示，失去这些电视台执照的威胁对ABC来说无异于“企业死刑”。

威尔金森援引法国大革命，将政府施加的压力比作让电视台的“脑袋放在断头台上”，而电视台却仍在继续报道，这让ABC电视台“不知道我们说的任何话是否能让断头台倒下”。

FCC 律师辩称，美国地方法院无权审查该机构的许可证续期令，并且 ABC 是一个“受监管机构审查的受监管实体”，不能通过此第一修正案案件来规避监管程序。

与特朗普结盟的联邦通信委员会主席布伦丹·卡尔一再断言，这场斗争完全是关于迪士尼的多元化、公平和包容性做法，但两党的前联邦通信委员会官员都对这种说法表示怀疑。

在上周的联邦通信委员会会议上，卡尔表示，迪士尼提起的第一修正案诉讼是一个“非常奇怪的选择”，是在“错误的法院”和“错误的时间”提起的。

在听证会上，威尔金森抨击了卡尔，称特朗普对卡尔拥有“完全的控制权”，并且这位联邦通信委员会主席“明白他的指示”。

她说，其结果是“公然违反了美国宪法”。

阿里汗法官周二没有作出裁决。她给予双方至10月14日（周三）的时间提交补充材料和答复。