FCC chair rejects Trump's call to revoke CBS license over Harris interview edits

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump's call to revoke CBS's broadcast license, calling it a familiar threat that "should not be ignored."

Trump called for the license to be revoked after the network shared two different edits of a recent 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump criticized the interview in a Truthout social post on Thursday, calling it "a big fake news scam" and claiming the network altered her answer to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "in order to protect him or at least make him look better."

Trump shared a compilation of two versions of Harris' answer to the question, calling one the "real answer" and the other the "edited answer," even though both were shared by CBS. One of these was shared by the 60 Minutes X account in a teaser, while the other shows a version of what appears to be CBS' transcript of the full interview. CBS did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment.

"Remove CBS's license," he said. "Election interference."

"While the former president's repeated attacks against broadcast stations may be familiar by now, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored," Rosenworcel said in a statement. "As I've said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke the licenses of broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes the content or coverage."

If this sounds familiar, it's because Rosenworcel rejected a similar call from Trump in September. At the time, Trump objected to ABC's moderation and fact-checking of the presidential debates.