Ted Cruz fires warning shot at Trump's FCC

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) isn't happy with the tactics President Donald Trump's Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, is using to punish broadcast news networks — and warned that they are becoming "speech police."

On Tuesday, the FCC ordered Disney-owned ABC affiliates to file their broadcast license renewals early, a strong signal that the agency is threatening to revoke their right to broadcast. The move is reportedly retaliation after late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about first lady Melania Trump.

“The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,” stated the agency.

But Cruz, a Trump-aligned senator who has positioned himself as a free speech absolutist, told Punchbowl News this is a dangerous move by the FCC.

“It’s not the government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police,” Cruz told technology reporter Diego Areas Munhoz.

This is not the first time Cruz has fired a warning shot at the FCC.

After Carr cracked down on the ability of late-night comedians to host interviews with political candidates, Cruz stated on his podcast, "I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy. He’s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him. But what he said there is dangerous as hell. He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.’ And I got to say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’"

At the time, Cruz's criticism earned him anger from a number of MAGA personalities on social media.