Trump Threatens to Report NBC's Kristen Welker to the FCC Over Primary Election Coverage

US President Donald Trump announced plans to report prominent NBC television journalist Kristen Welker to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for potential rebuke or punishment. In a Truth Social post, Trump took issue with Welker's characterisation of his primary election endorsements as yielding "mixed results," citing unverified data claiming a 98 percent success rate.

Welker, who hosts NBC's Meet the Press and previously moderated the 2020 presidential debate between Trump and former President Joe Biden, recently had a contentious one-on-one interview with Trump where he criticized major networks including ABC, CBS, and CNN as "crooked networks" before cutting short his microphone.

The announcement follows a broader pattern of tensions between the Trump administration and news media outlets. ABC News's owner, Disney, recently sued the FCC over an early licence review of eight stations, which the network termed retaliation. Additionally, Trump has filed several multibillion-dollar civil lawsuits alleging defamation against organizations such as the BBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Simultaneously, the administration has faced criticism from media freedom groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders for using the courts and the FBI to attempt to compel reporters from publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post to reveal confidential sources regarding national security reporting.