Trump suggests that networks who cover him ‘negatively’ should lose their licenses
On Air Force One, Donald Trump gaggled with reporters on his flight back to the US. The president said that the major US networks were “97% against me”.
He didn’t offer evidence to prove this figure, or how this conclusion was evaluated. He simply said that he read the statistic “someplace”.
“Again, 97% negative, and yet I won easily. I won all seven swing states,” Trump added. “They give me only bad press. I mean they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their licenses should be taken away.”
Key events
Barack Obama weighs in on Kimmel suspension, accuses Trump administration of ‘muzzling’ or ‘firing’ dissenters
Former president Barack Obama has weighed in on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show.
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote in a post on X.
He also shared an article about fired Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, who says she was dismissed from the paper for social media posts she made following the killing of Charlie Kirk, where she denounced political violence, but lamented the lack of action to curb gun violence.
Obama said her firing was “precisely the kind of government coercion that the first amendment was designed to prevent – and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.
Chris Stein
Earlier, at a press conference with Democratic lawmakers introducing the No Political Enemies (Nope) Act, senator Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, gave a hint as to how Democrats may get around the GOP’s rejection of their effort to protect dissenting speech, noting the issue could come into play in the ongoing dispute over how to fund the government and prevent a shutdown after 30 September.
“I’ll just speak for myself – I do not think Democrats have an obligation to fund the destruction of our democracy. And so, of course, for me, I am going to require that there be at least some modicum of protections for democracy in any budget that we pass,” he said, adding: “Why would we write a budget that the president isn’t even committed to implementing? Why would we fund this level of lawlessness at a moment that the country is under threat?”
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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At a press conference with British prime minister Keir Starmer, Trump said that Jimmy Kimmel was fired for a “lack of talent”. When asked about free speech in the US versus the UK, after the comedian’s late night talkshow was indefinitely taken off the air, Trump suggested that it wasn’t in retaliation for his monologue about the murder of Charlie Kirk. In his remarks, Kimmel said that “the Maga gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” Kimmel went on to say that Trump allies are trying to “score political points” since Tyler Robinson was charged with Kirk’s murder. Trump that Kimmel “had very bad ratings” and “they should have fired him a long time ago.”
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Earlier, top House Democrats called on Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to resign over the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Congressional leaders accuse Carr – who runs the US’s media watchdog – of engaging in a “corrupt abuse of power” by “bullying ABC” and forcing the media company to “bend the knee to the Trump administration”.
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Meanwhile, in the US Senate today, several Democratic lawmakers denounced Kimmel’s suspension while announcing bicameral legislation to protect political dissidents. Senator Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, called Kirk’s death “a national tragedy”, but accused the president of “choosing to exploit this tragedy, to weaponize the federal government to destroy Donald Trump’s political opposition”. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that the administration was trying to “snuff out” free speech, warning this would be the “road to autocracy”.
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In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration escalated its targeting of the Federal Reserve by asking the supreme court to let the president move ahead with firing Fed governor Lisa Cook today. The justice department wants the top court to lift a district judge’s order that blocked Trump from removing Cook from her role.
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Turning Point USA has announced that Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, has been “unanimously elected” to be its new CEO and chair. According to their announcement on X, this is in line with Charlie Kirk’s wishes in the event of his death.
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Back on Capitol Hill today, DC officials, including mayor Muriel Bowser, faced lawmakers on the House Oversight committee. The mayor continued walking her tightrope with the Trump administration, and avoided commenting on the Trump’s policies in the district, while noting crime in the city has fallen. Other district leaders who appeared alongside Bowser were more pointed in their pushback. “We are a city under seige,” said Democratic city council chair Phil Mendelson.
Chris Stein
Democratic senator Chris Murphy warned that Jimmy Kimmel is likely to not be the last person to lose their job, or face retaliation for their criticism of Donald Trump. He said it would be important to engage with companies to convince them against retaliation.
“This is going to be an epidemic where there will be speech control, both in the public sphere, but in the private sphere as well. These corporations are so greedy that they are willing to do anything and everything in order to make as much money as possible, including being lieutenants in Donald Trump’s effort to try to control political speech,” Murphy said.
“We need to be talking not just to President Trump and the broad public, but to the corporate community as well, and put the question to them. You’re going to rue this moment, you’re going to regret this moment on your deathbed when America is no longer a democracy anymore, and you were willing participants in the effort to destroy political speech.”
‘The road to autocracy’: Trump administration ‘trying to snuff out free speech’, says Schumer
Chris Stein
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer warned that Donald Trump’s and his officials’ threats against people who criticize murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk “is an assault on everything this country has stood for since the Constitution has been signed”.
“One of the great hallmarks of our country is free speech, whether you agree or disagree, and this administration is trying to snuff it out. They don’t want people to even speak when they don’t like what they said. That is the road to autocracy,” he continued.
Congressman Jason Crow, who is championing the legislation in the House, warned that undermining free speech now will haunt future administrations.
“Power is always cyclical in America,” he said. “Sometime in the future, it’ll be somebody else to have that right to question us, to push back. And if we lose it, we all lose it.”
‘This is a decision moment for the country’: Murphy urges Republicans to back anti-censorship legislation
Chris Stein
The legislation senator Chris Murphy will introduce along with congressman Jason Crow, both Democrats, contains several measures intended to protect anti-government speech and prevent censorship.
At a press conference where he was joined by nine other House and Senate Democrats, Murphy said the bill “creates a specific defense for those that are being targeted for political reasons. It builds real consequences for government officials when they use the power of the government to target speech that is protected by the First Amendment and it gives an ability to recover attorneys fees when someone is the subject of government harassment.”
“This is a decision moment for the country,” he said, and encouraged Republicans to get behind the measure.
“Conservatives who say that they support democracy and free speech need to speak up right now. Our Republican colleagues need to put the health of our democracy before loyalty to their leader.”
The measure’s prospects are unclear, but Congress’s Republican leaders have thusfar shown little interest in legislation that does not align with Donald Trump’s priorities.
‘That’s not America’: Jimmy Kimmel suspension amounts to ‘censorship’, says senator Chris Murphy
Chris Stein
At a press conference to announce legislation to protect government dissidents, Democratic senator Chris Murphy said the Trump administration’s pressure campaign that resulted in Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension by ABC yesterday amounted to “censorship”.
Kimmel’s show was taken off the air over comments he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Murphy called Kirk’s death “a national tragedy”, but accused the president of “choosing to exploit this tragedy, to weaponize the federal government to destroy Donald Trump’s political opposition”.
“Last night, they showed us exactly how serious they are,” Murphy continued. “Trump’s FCC forced a major network to pull a loud Trump critic, Jimmy Kimmel, off the air, essentially saying that any media actor that doesn’t say what Trump wants them to say about Charlie Kirk or Trump’s policies is going to be silenced.
“That’s censorship. That’s state speech control. That’s not America.”
Erika Kirk elected as new CEO and chair of Turning Point USA
Turning Point USA has announced that Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, has been “unanimously elected” to be its new CEO and chair.
According to the announcement on X, this is in line with Charlie Kirk’s wishes in the event of his death.
The Turning Point Board has unanimously elected Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board.
In prior discussions, Charlie expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death. pic.twitter.com/PazORgiHWP
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) September 18, 2025
Here’s is Gomez’s full statement:
We cannot allow an inexcusable act of political violence to be twisted into a justification for government censorship and control. First, an ABC reporter was told that his coverage amounted to hate speech and that he should be prosecuted simply for doing his job. Then, the FCC threatened to go after this same network, seizing on a late-night comedian’s inopportune joke as a pretext to punish speech it disliked. That led to a shameful show of cowardly corporate capitulation by ABC that has put the foundation of the First Amendment in danger.
This FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes. If it were to take the unprecedented step of trying to revoke broadcast licenses, which are held by local stations rather than national networks, it would run headlong into the First Amendment and fail in court on both the facts and the law. But even the threat to revoke a license is no small matter. It poses an existential risk to a broadcaster, which by definition cannot exist without its license. That makes billion-dollar companies with pending business before the agency all the more vulnerable to pressure to bend to the government’s ideological demands.
When corporations surrender in the face of that pressure, they endanger not just themselves, but the right to free expression for everyone in this country. The duty to defend the First Amendment does not rest with government, but with all of us. Free speech is the foundation of our democracy, and we must push back against any attempt to erode it.
The only Democrat-aligned FCC commissioner, Anna Gomez, has issued a statement in response to ABC’s decision to “capitulate to government pressure that violates the First Amendment and threatens free expression” by pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air and suspending him indefinitely.
The shocking move followed pressure from the Trump administration on broadcasters to crack down on the comedian over his comments on Charlie Kirk’s death.
“This FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes,” Gomez said. “Free speech is the foundation of our democracy, and we must push back against any attempt to erode it.”
Trump asks supreme court to allow firing of Fed governor Lisa Cook
The Trump administration has asked the supreme court to let him move ahead with firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook – a move without precedent since the central bank’s founding in 1913 – in a legal battle that imperils the Fed’s independence.
Reuters reports that the justice department has asked the justices to lift US district judge Jia Cobb’s 9 September order temporarily blocking the president from removing Cook, a Biden appointee. Cobb ruled that Trump’s claims that Cook committed mortgage fraud before taking office, which Cook denies, likely were not sufficient grounds for removal under the law that created the Fed.
“This application involves yet another case of improper judicial interference with the President’s removal authority – here, interference with the President’s authority to remove members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for cause,” the DOJ said in the filing.
Cook took part in the Fed’s highly anticipated two-day meeting in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday in which the central bank decided to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, as policymakers responded to concerns about weakness in the job market. Cook was among those voting in favor of the cut announced yesterday.
The US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit in a 2-1 ruling on Monday denied the administration’s request to put Cobb’s order on hold. The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would ask the justices to intervene.
“The President lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause. The Administration will appeal this decision and looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said on Tuesday.
Congress included provisions in the law that created the Fed to shield the central bank from political interference. Under that law, Fed governors may be removed by a president only “for cause”, though the law does not define the term nor establish procedures for removal. No president has ever removed a Fed governor, and the law has never been tested in court.
DC officials offer varying degrees of pushback against Trump administration in hearing remarks
Chris Stein
Democratic mayor Muriel Bowser has generally sought to avoid antagonizing the Trump administration, even after the president ordered an unprecedented takeover of the police department to fight an alleged crime wave.
She continued that trend in her opening remarks at the House oversight committee’s hearing into the federal district, avoiding comment on the president’s policies while noting crime in the city has fallen.
“Post-covid, we experienced a violent crime spike. In 2023, when I was last here, I explained how we would drive down those trends, and it is working,” she said, pointing to a 53% drop in violent crime in the city compared to 2023.
Other Washington elected officials who appeared alongside Bowser were not so restrained.
“We are a city under siege. It is frustrating to watch this committee debate and vote on 14 bills regarding the District without a single public hearing, with no input from District officials or the public, without regard for community impact nor a shred of analysis, including legal sufficiency or fiscal impact,” Democratic city council chair Phil Mendelson said.
In his remarks, attorney general Brian Schwalb said: “Sending masked agents in unmarked cars to pick people off the streets, flooding our neighborhoods with national guardsmen who are untrained in local policing, attempting a federal takeover of our police force – none of these are durable, long-lasting solutions for driving crime down.”
