‘Dangerous as hell’: Ted Cruz compares FCC chair’s threats against ABC to mob tactics

CNN GOP Sen Ted Cruz on Friday denounced Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr s threats to pull ABC s broadcast license as unbelievably dangerous and compared specific of his rhetoric to mafioso tactics In an episode of his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz disclosed on Friday the Texas Republican stated he was thrilled Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air by ABC over his comments about conservative influencer Charlie Kirk But he declared he strongly disagreed with the regime policing speech asserting it could come back to bite conservatives when Democrats retake power I hate what Jimmy Kimmel mentioned I am thrilled that he was fired Cruz explained But let me tell you If the leadership gets in the business of saying We don t like what you the media have reported We re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don t say what we like that will end up bad for conservatives Though Carr s comments have drawn widespread condemnation on the left Cruz s remarks represent one of the strongest denunciations of the threats against broadcasters by an elected conservative Cruz also chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation which has broad authority over the FCC Going down this road there will come a time when a Democrat wins again wins the White House they will silence us They will use this power and they will use it ruthlessly And that is dangerous Cruz declared Sought later by reporters on Capitol Hill if the Commerce Committee will hold hearings into the matter or investigate Carr if he continues in the same vein Cruz left the door open to the possibility There s no doubt the Commerce Committee has oversight authority and responsibility over the FCC and when the Democrats had the majority they did not engage in oversight We will do our job and engage in oversight President Donald Trump has also vaguely threatened to pull networks licenses if they air overwhelmingly negative coverage of him though Cruz did not rebut the president s remarks directly on the podcast Trump offered praise for Carr when pressed on the scathing remarks from the Texas Republican I think Brendan Carr is a great American patriot So I disagree with Ted Cruz on that he mentioned The president also continued to lament what he described as dishonesty from system broadcasts that are critical of him Cruz played latest remarks Carr made on far-right podcaster Benny Johnson s podcast in which the FCC chairman threatened to take action against broadcasters who don t find methods to change conduct the governing body considers disagreeable I mean look we can do this the easy way or the hard way Carr explained These companies can find tactics to change conduct to take action frankly on Kimmel or you know there s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead ABC pulled Kimmel s show off the air indefinitely the day after Carr made those comments Responding to Carr s comments Cruz mentioned No no no no no Look look I like Brendan Carr the senator mentioned He s a good guy He s the chairman of the FCC I work closely with him But what he reported there is dangerous as hell He says We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way And I got to say that s right out of Goodfellas That s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going nice bar you have here It d be a shame if something happened to it Cruz later added I think it is unbelievably dangerous for cabinet to put itself in the position of saying We re going to decide what speech we like and what we don t and we re going to threaten to take you off air if we don t like what you re saying And it might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel the senator stated But when it is used to silence every conservative in America we will regret it