ABC Tells the FCC: Investigating ‘The View’ Over Trump Criticism Is a First Amendment Violation.
ABC filed new comments with the Federal Communications Commission on July 7, 2026, arguing that the agency’s ongoing scrutiny of “The View” amounts to a First Amendment violation. “The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor’s chair,” the Disney-owned network told the FCC, according to Fox News.
The filing is the latest move in two linked but still-open FCC proceedings — neither has produced a ruling, a fine, or a license action. ABC argues the agency is targeting “The View” because it criticizes President Trump (R). The FCC disputes that characterization and says ABC should focus on its legal obligations rather than its public messaging campaign.
This is a live regulatory dispute, not a settled one. No dollar figure, fine, or license revocation has been reported on either side. What follows is what is actually happening, and what each side says about it.
- 77,000+ — public comments filed in the FCC's review of “The View”'s equal-time exemption, up from roughly 2,500 before ABC's June ad campaign — Source: FCC Media Bureau public notice; Deadline
- 2 — separate, still-open FCC proceedings examining ABC and “The View” — an equal-time exemption review and an early license-renewal review — Source: FCC.gov; CNBC
- 2002 — the year the FCC first granted “The View” its “bona fide news interview program” exemption from equal-time rules — Source: NPR
- 8 — ABC-owned broadcast stations now under early license-renewal review, years ahead of their 2028–2031 due dates — Source: CNBC
- $0 — the fine, penalty, or license action either proceeding has produced as of this writing — this remains an open regulatory dispute — Source: FCC.gov docket status, July 7, 2026
ABC’s new comments, filed July 7, 2026, go further than the network’s earlier filings in framing the FCC’s review as viewpoint-driven. According to Fox News and Deadline, the filing argues the agency is applying its rules selectively — pursuing “The View” while other programs that host political candidates go unscrutinized.
“The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor's chair.”
ABC filing to the FCC · via Fox News, July 7, 2026
The filing draws a direct line between the timing of the review and the administration’s politics, according to Fox News’ account of the document.
“A rule pressed against one set of speakers and quietly suspended for another, along lines that track the administration's political preferences, is not evenhanded regulation.”
ABC filing to the FCC · via Fox News, July 7, 2026
An FCC spokesperson pushed back the same day, rejecting the First Amendment framing and redirecting the dispute back to ABC’s regulatory obligations.
“ABC should focus on complying with its public interest obligations, rather than misleading the public about them.”
FCC spokesperson · via Fox News, July 7, 2026
The FCC first granted “The View” a “bona fide news interview program” exemption from the agency’s equal-time rules back in 2002, according to NPR. That exemption is what has allowed the show to host political candidates without triggering a legal obligation to give equal airtime to their opponents.
The current review traces back to a single appearance. Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico (D), a Texas state representative, appeared on “The View” on February 2, 2026. The FCC opened its review of the show’s exemption afterward. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr (R) — elevated to the chairmanship by President Trump in January 2025 — described the agency’s posture toward the show in blunt terms.
“We are pursuing Disney's program The View as an enforcement matter.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr (R) · via CBS News
President Trump has separately, and more broadly, called for scrutiny of broadcast licenses he views as unfriendly. The remarks below predate this specific dispute and do not name “The View,” but they describe the same fight over Carr and station licenses that frames everything that follows.
I am so thrilled to see Brendan Carr... looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic 'News' Organizations. They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves...
Paraphrased commentary · not a verbatim post
This post addresses broadcast licenses generally, not 'The View' by name — included here because it is the clearest public statement of the administration's stance on the same underlying fight. Not a verbatim re-rendering of the original post.
The dispute is actually two separate FCC administrative proceedings running in parallel, and precision matters here: neither has produced a ruling, a fine, or a license action. The first is a declaratory-ruling proceeding on whether “The View” keeps its 2002 exemption, opened after Talarico’s appearance; more than 77,000 public comments have been filed in that docket, according to the FCC’s own public notice. The second, ordered April 28, 2026, is an early license-renewal review of ABC’s eight owned stations, according to CNBC — years ahead of their 2028–2031 statutory due dates, and tied in part to an FCC inquiry into whether the stations’ DEI-related hiring policies complied with federal equal-employment rules, per Axios. ABC filed the renewals “under protest.”
The conservative watchdog group Media Research Center filed its own submission in the exemption docket on June 23, 2026 — 2,473 items, according to Fox News — arguing the opposite of ABC’s position. MRC president David Bozell told the FCC the show does not deserve its news exemption at all.
“Partisan political operation.”
David Bozell, Media Research Center president, on 'The View' · MRC filing to the FCC, via Fox News
The FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez (D)— nominated by President Biden — dissented from the agency’s handling of the matter, characterizing it as part of a broader pattern rather than a one-off inquiry.
“An escalation in this FCC's ongoing campaign to censor and control speech.”
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez (D) · via CBS News
Questioning on X whether 'The View' still qualifies as 'bona fide news' under the exemption the FCC granted the show in 2002.
Relaying the FCC spokesperson's on-record line accusing ABC of 'misleading the public' about its public interest obligations, amid the network's on-air push for comments.
ABC did not just file paperwork — it went on the air. On June 22, 2026, the network aired an on-screen campaign using archival Barbara Walters footage urging viewers to file comments with the FCC in support of the show. That push is a large part of why the comment count in the exemption docket jumped from roughly 2,500 to more than 77,000, according to Deadline and the FCC’s own public notice.
Chairman Carr has cast that campaign in far less flattering terms, describing it, according to TheWrap, as a “misinformation campaign” rather than a legitimate public-comment drive. ABC, for its part, argues in its July 7 filing that the review process itself risks doing exactly what the First Amendment forbids — deterring a broadcaster from covering a sitting president critically.
Variety reported that ABC’s filing warned the inquiry could “chill critical protected speech” — and Semafor found evidence on July 5, 2026 that some chilling may already be happening. “The View” has throttled back how often it books political candidates since the FCC inquiry began, according to Semafor’s reporting, a shift that would be difficult to attribute definitively to the review alone, but which lines up with the timeline.
Congress has weighed in on both sides of the aisle, though not in equal measure. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter demanding answers about Chairman Carr’s threats toward broadcasters. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has separately warned, in comments not specific to this case, that the FCC’s “public interest” standard should not be “weaponized against conservatives” — a caution aimed at the opposite kind of overreach.
Brendan Carr (R) — FCC Chairman, elevated by President Trump in January 2025; says the agency is pursuing “The View” “as an enforcement matter.”
Anna Gomez (D) — FCC Commissioner, nominated by President Biden, the agency’s lone Democratic commissioner; dissents, calling the review “an escalation” in a broader speech-control campaign.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) — sent a letter demanding answers about Carr’s threats toward broadcasters.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — Senate Commerce Committee Chairman; has separately warned against the “public interest” standard being weaponized against conservatives.
David Bozell — Media Research Center president; argues “The View” is a “partisan political operation” undeserving of its news exemption.
James Talarico (D) — Texas state representative and U.S. Senate candidate whose February 2, 2026 appearance on “The View” triggered the exemption review.
Josh D’Amaro — Disney CEO; no on-record quote on this specific matter has been identified.
2002. The FCC grants “The View” a “bona fide news interview program” exemption from equal-time rules.
February 2, 2026. Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico appears on “The View.”
Shortly after. The FCC opens a review of the show’s exemption; Chairman Carr says the agency is “pursuing Disney’s program The View as an enforcement matter.”
April 28, 2026. The FCC orders an early license-renewal review of ABC’s eight owned stations, years ahead of their 2028–2031 due dates.
May 8–9, 2026. ABC files its first comments calling the FCC's scrutiny a First Amendment violation.
May 28, 2026. ABC's stations file their license renewals “under protest.”
June 22, 2026. ABC airs an on-air campaign, using archival Barbara Walters footage, urging viewers to file FCC comments.
June 23, 2026. The Media Research Center files a 2,473-item submission arguing “The View” is a “partisan political operation.”
July 5, 2026. Semafor reports “The View” has throttled back booking political candidates since the inquiry began.
July 7, 2026. ABC files new comments reiterating the First Amendment argument; the FCC responds. This is the story covered here.
Nothing here is adjudicated. The FCC has not ruled on whether “The View” keeps its equal-time exemption, has not ruled on ABC’s eight station license renewals, and has not fined or sanctioned ABC in connection with either proceeding. ABC has not been found to have violated any FCC rule, and the FCC has not been found to have violated the First Amendment. Both are live arguments in open dockets.
What is documented: a 2002 exemption, a February appearance by a Democratic Senate candidate, two proceedings opened in the months that followed, a 2,473-item counter-filing from a conservative watchdog group, an on-air comment drive that helped swell the docket past 77,000 entries, and a July 5 report that the show itself has changed its booking behavior since the inquiry began. Whether that adds up to viewpoint discrimination, as ABC argues, or ordinary regulatory oversight, as the FCC maintains, is exactly what these two open proceedings exist to resolve.
Two FCC proceedings, one 2002 exemption, and more than 77,000 public comments — and still no ruling, no fine, no license action, on either side. ABC says the government is punishing “The View” for criticizing Trump. The FCC says ABC should worry about its obligations, not its messaging. Both statements are arguments in an open dispute, not findings of fact.
