'A sin against democracy': Former Obama adviser slams Trump over threats to media in Thursday address

President Donald Trump is no fan of the press, repeatedly calling outlets critical of his policies "fake news" and slapping lawsuits against those whose reporting he deems unfavorable. He went a step further Thursday night, threatening to revoke the broadcast licenses of NBC and ABC after the networks declined to air his primetime address on alleged election fraud.

CNN's chief political analyst, David Axelrod, who also works as a consultant, issued a swift rebuttal.

"Intentionally planting doubts about our free and fair elections based on lies and conspiracy theories is a sin against democracy. So, too, is state control of the media," Axelrod, who also served as a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, said in a post. Trump, in his speech, accused the networks of bias. "....They knew what it was about because of the fact that they don't like the topic, because they know how corrupt our system is, and they don't want to reveal it," he asserted.

The 80-year-old implied that the networks were involved in a conspiracy. "They and others in the media are part of a plot. They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going. They want to protect the radical left. They can't have a great country...Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public multibillion-dollar-in-value airways for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting. They pay nothing for multibillion-dollar assets," he said.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Anna Gomez, who serves alongside two Republicans, told Reuters that Trump's call was "ridiculous," saying the broadcasters made "the same editorial decisions" they've made under presidents of both parties. Those editorial decisions are protected by the First Amendment, and the FCC has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech," she was quoted as saying.

It must be noted that there is no law mandating TV news networks to carry presidential remarks. In the past, such major addresses have typically been reserved for national crises or critical moments, with a few exceptions—multiple networks declined in 2022 to broadcast former President Joe Biden's address on threats to democracy. ABC, CBS, and NBC also did not air President Barack Obama's 2014 primetime speech on immigration, according to Politico.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to revoke broadcasters' licenses in the past, including after ABC's Jimmy Kimmel joked about Melania Trump in April 2026, and more recently after suggesting networks that gave him "bad publicity" should lose their licenses. But a broadcaster's license cannot be revoked easily, as the process requires multiple steps, including a decision by an administrative law judge that can be appealed to the full FCC and the courts, Reuters explained.