Donald Trump stated that NBC host Kristen Welker should face Federal Communications Commission rebuke or punishment.
Trump reacted sharply after Welker described his primary candidate endorsement record as having delivered mixed results.
NBC immediately defended Welker following the attack, affirming that she is among the best in the industry.
Donald Trump said on Sunday that NBC’s Kristen Welker should face “rebuke or punishment” from the Federal Communications Commission after she described the record of candidates he had endorsed as “mixed” during a live segment for a Washington, DC, local affiliate. Welker hosts Meet the Press.
According to The Guardian, Trump attacked Welker in a social media post, calling her the “Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of … Meet the Fake Press” and warning that she would “be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment”. The post also said Trump hoped his appointed FCC chair Brendan Carr – and Carr’s colleagues on the commission – “take this Threat to our Country very seriously”.
Welker had said Trump “is going to loom large over these midterms” and added: “He, of course, has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries. He’s had some mixed results.” NBC stated on Sunday: “Kristen is one of the best in the business, and we stand by her.” The segment aired before Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press, where a guest analyst later said “the single most important factor in who the Republican nominee will be in [the presidential election of] 2028 will be who Donald Trump endorses”.
Trump is estimated to have made more than 300 endorsements that resulted in the recipient winning. In the election cycle leading up to November’s midterms, 214 of the 218 House candidates he endorsed won their primaries, including all 24 Republican Senate primary candidates. In gubernatorial primaries, five of the 21 candidates he endorsed lost their primaries.
Minnesota delivered one high-profile defeat. State house speaker Lisa Demuth beat Mike Lindell by a wide margin in the gubernatorial race. On Saturday, the state's supreme court cemented Lindell's 11-percentage-point loss after dismissing his petition for a recount.
Trump nonetheless maintained in a 23 August social media post: “My Endorsements are stronger than ever.” He added: “There has never been anything close!” When he went after Welker on Sunday, he also pointed to the victory of appointed interim US senator Darline Graham, sister of her late predecessor Lindsey Graham, and mentioned Oklahoma gubernatorial hopeful Mike Mazzei’s Republican primary win. Days earlier, he said any endorsed candidates who lost were in “impossible” races and had earned his support “out of loyalty”.
How much power Trump’s endorsement carries has been a touchy issue for the president. On Friday, HBO Max talk show host Bill Maher apologised to Trump for claiming that the president is winning “almost none of” his endorsements. Trump had sent Maher statistics making the president’s case that the talk show host was wrong.
Welker and Trump have a contentious relationship. In June, he walked out of an hour-long interview with the host after being asked, among other unpleasant topics for him, about having pledged “no new wars” during his successful run for a second presidency. He started war in Iran in late February alongside Israel, and Trump denied guaranteeing there would be no wars if he were returned to the Oval Office.
“You’re a one-sided crooked network,” Trump said at the time. “Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.” He added: “You ought to straighten out your press. A country can never be great with a dishonest press.”
NBC on Sunday stated: “Kristen is one of the best in the business, and we stand by her.” NBC News on 19 August had published an article examining Trump’s endorsement record, saying in the story’s headline that the president’s “endorsement record takes a hit at the end of primary season”.
Trump’s comments on Sunday about Welker were only the latest instance of him or his administration seeking to bring the weight of the FCC down on media outlets with whom he has become cross. In September 2025, Carr – appointed by Trump – reportedly put pressure on television station groups to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel’s show as punishment for a comment that the ABC host, a frequent critic of the president, made in the wake of the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. Two conservative-friendly broadcast groups, Sinclair and Nexstar, did so. And ABC opted to “indefinitely” pull Kimmel’s show before he ultimately returned to the air a week later.
Legal clashes have yielded major windfalls. During his second term, Trump secured over $30mn through confidential agreements with CBS and ABC. The latter broadcaster took the FCC to court in early August, alleging regulatory harassment after officials mandated premature license renewal filings for eight local stations. Republicans separately complain that daytime programme The View denies their candidates equal airtime.
“Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the network stated in its lawsuit.
NBC is licensed by the FCC to directly operate 11 local stations.
The FCC lacks authority over newsroom programming. Created in 1934, the regulator cannot police constitutionally protected speech or internal editorial choices. CNN media reporter and commentator Brian Stelter, who unearthed the broadcast clip on Sunday, wrote that the agency “can’t punish Welker” due to its “limited power … by design”. He added that Carr has historically proved “responsive” to Trump and “it’s reasonable to think NBC will be targeted next”.
