FCC head says government-funded Trump ads are ‘normal’ and ‘don’t raise any red flags’

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr said Wednesday that new pro-Trump TV ads paid for with government funds don’t “merit any sort of FCC review.”

“It doesn’t strike me as anything at all out of the ordinary,” Carr said of the ads, which have aired across the country in recent weeks.

Asked about allegations that the ads are “propaganda,” Carr laughed.

The White House has “explained that these are just normal-course public service announcements, PSAs, that you see all the time. I don’t think there’s anything unique or different about it,” he said at a news conference.

“There’s nothing in there that strikes me that merit any sort of FCC review,” said Carr, whom Trump appointed to the agency.

A reporter pointed out that the progressive advocacy group Public Citizen filed a complaint with the FCC noting that the Trump campaign used one of the ads in 2024.

Carr brushed off the concern, telling reporters that “there’s groups on the left that have, you know, long worked and pushed to weaponize the FCC’s license renewal process” but that the ads “don’t raise any red flags.”

Public Citizen did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Anna Gomez, the…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business