An ABC lawyer has warned that Donald Trump’s FCC campaign against the network could leave programs including Jimmy Kimmel Live and The View feeling as though their “head is on a guillotine.”
Disney, ABC’s parent company, sued the Federal Communications Commission in August, accusing it of conducting a “retaliatory campaign.” The action includes an early license review of Disney-owned ABC stations and an investigation involving The View.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, DC, after the FCC issued an unprecedented order requiring eight Disney-owned and operated ABC stations to enter an expedited license renewal process.
During a two-hour hearing on Tuesday, ABC attorney Beth Wilkinson invoked the French Revolution to describe what she said was the chilling impact of the FCC’s review on the network.
Wilkinson compared the situation to having one’s “head on the guillotine” while being left to wonder “if anything we say is going to make it come down.”
“Our editorial decisions are being affected right now,” Wilkinson said, pointing to the approaching US midterm elections. “We are watching everything that we do.”
She repeated ABC’s First Amendment claim that the network was being targeted because of its content.
“President Donald Trump has made his stance clear over and over again,” Wilkinson told the court.
An ABC lawyer warned that Donald Trump’s FCC campaign could leave programs such as The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live with their “head on a guillotine.”
Disney, ABC’s owner, is suing the Federal Communications Commission over what it calls a retaliatory campaign involving station license reviews and an investigation into The View.
“What he says is because of that content, because of that speech, ABC should lose its license.”
She described the alleged actions as “blatant violations of the US Constitution,” arguing that they posed a danger not only to ABC but to broadcast media more broadly.
Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel, representing the Department of Justice, rejected Wilkinson’s guillotine comparison.
Georgiev-Remmel argued that the court did not have jurisdiction over the case. He added that even if the judge found otherwise, ABC’s request for a preliminary injunction should still be rejected.
He said ABC had not shown that it was likely to prevail on the merits or that it faced irreparable harm, noting that all eight of the network’s licenses remain valid.
Granting the injunction, he argued, would allow ABC to “sidestep” the process established by Congress for appealing regulatory action.
When the judge asked what irreparable harm ABC had suffered, Wilkinson replied: “The irreparable injury is the chill, and the threat of retaliation for First Amendment speech and editorial decisions ABC makes every day.”
US District Judge Loren AliKhan did not immediately rule on ABC’s request to block the FCC’s early review. ABC has argued that the process is unconstitutional, violates free-speech protections and amounts to retaliation over content President Donald Trump dislikes.
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ABC executives had already viewed an earlier FCC probe into Disney’s DEI practices as pushback against commentary on Kimmel’s show
ABC and its parent company, Disney, sued the FCC and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr (pictured) in August, several months after the commission ordered eight ABC-owned stations to submit renewal applications for their broadcast licenses years ahead of schedule
A ruling was not expected until at least mid-October.
After extensively questioning both sides, she asked them to submit brief additional arguments by October 9, for the government, and October 14, for ABC.
ABC and its parent company, Disney, sued the FCC and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in August, several months after the commission ordered eight ABC-owned stations to submit renewal applications for their broadcast licenses years ahead of schedule.
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The case is one of several ongoing legal battles between Trump´s Republican administration and news outlets over their coverage and access to the executive branch since Trump returned to the White House for a second term.
In its lawsuit, ABC had asked the judge to temporarily prohibit the FCC from taking any further action related to its license renewal proceedings.
ABC also sought to prohibit the commission from trying to coerce or threaten the network to alter its ‘exercise of editorial discretion.’
‘The First Amendment demands an immediate end to the Commission´s retaliatory campaign,’ ABC attorneys wrote.
ABC executives had already viewed an earlier FCC probe into Disney’s DEI practices as pushback against commentary on Kimmel’s show and The View.
Carr, a Trump ally, ordered the early review of the stations´ licenses in April – just after a joke by ABC´s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel infuriated Trump, who called for the comedian’s firing
Members of the press appear in the spin room during a presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, on screen at left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, in 2024
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A separate FCC inquiry is examining whether The View still qualifies for an exemption from equal-time rules that require broadcasters to offer opposing political candidates airtime.
Losing that exemption could make it harder for the daytime show to book candidates without giving equal time to every opponent.
The View currently qualifies for the exemption because it is considered a bona fide news program.
Carr has said the license review is about DEI initiatives, not speech, and that the equal-time probe simply enforces existing congressional rules.
Trump has repeatedly called for ABC’s licenses to be revoked and has publicly attacked the network’s coverage and hosts.
Disney argues an adverse outcome in any FCC license hearing is ‘all but guaranteed’ and that the pressure amounts to a threat meant to intimidate the media industry.
License revocations linked to programming are rare. The last such case was in 1969, when a Jackson, Mississippi, station lost its license for defending segregation.
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro told CNBC last week the company would stand by its journalistic integrity.
‘We’re not going to be told how to run that side of our business,’ he said.
Carr, a Trump ally, ordered the early review of the stations´ licenses in April – just after a joke by ABC´s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel infuriated Trump, who called for the comedian’s firing.
ABC also had been fighting Carr´s efforts to make the morning talk show ‘The View’ subject to equal-time rules.
Carr defended his agency´s actions against ABC by saying broadcasters have a duty to ‘operate in the public interest.’
Government attorneys urged the court to dismiss ABC´s lawsuit, accusing the network of trying to prematurely ward off scrutiny by federal regulators.
‘To foreclose the Commission from using all the tools at its disposal to investigate whether Plaintiffs are meeting their statutory and regulatory duties would seriously harm both the government and the public,’ Justice Department lawyers wrote.
AliKhan was nominated to the bench by Democrat President Joe Biden.
