The tweets represent a firm rebuke for an agency that's largely flown under President Donald Trump's radar. | Getty Trump bashes FCC move to doom Sinclair-Tribune deal: 'Disgraceful!'

President Donald Trump on Tuesday night bashed an FCC decision that likely doomed conservative broadcast giant Sinclair Broadcast Group's $3.9 billion merger with Tribune Media.

"So sad and unfair that the FCC wouldn’t approve the Sinclair Broadcast merger with Tribune," Trump tweeted. "This would have been a great and much needed Conservative voice for and of the People. Liberal Fake News NBC and Comcast gets approved, much bigger, but not Sinclair. Disgraceful!"


The FCC, led by Trump-appointed Chairman Ajit Pai, unanimously voted earlier this month to send the deal to an administrative law judge for review, a drawn-out process the agency has previously used to kill mergers. Pai said he had “serious concerns” about the deal. The agency was particularly troubled by station spinoffs Sinclair sought to use to come under federal ownership limits while still retaining significant ties to the divested stations.

Former Fox News host Eric Bolling told POLITICO that he talked by phone with the president on Sunday night, and used the opportunity to criticize Pai’s decision. Bolling first mentioned that he and Trump had discussed FCC matters on Monday’s Morning Joe, but did not go into any more detail. POLITICO has reported that Bolling, a former Fox News host, has held discussions with Sinclair about joining a new conservative cable news lineup the company has been planning to launch, if the merger goes through. The deal’s failure would likely mean the end of that opportunity.

“He and I had a lengthy discussion about the FCC and its role in the media M&A activity and I expressed my disappointment in Pai’s decision on Sinclair,” Bolling said, “because I found it anti-free market and that’s something that Republicans care about and probably voted for this president because of. And I would hope that in the future, a decision like this would come down a different way.”

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Bolling declined to characterize Trump’s response, but he said the president “listened intently.”

Chris Ruddy, the CEO of conservative cable outlet Newsmax and a friend of Trump‘s, has also been in the president’s ear about the Sinclair deal. Ruddy, who wanted the deal killed, likely will ultimately get his wish, but, at least with this tweet, Bolling’s argument seems to have won Trump over.

Trump’s tweet represents a firm rebuke for an agency that's largely flown under Trump's radar. Pai has previously sought to avoid the president's ire. When Trump last fall tweeted a call to revoke NBC's broadcast license over what he saw as unfavorable coverage, Pai waited nearly a week to comment and then offered simply a broad endorsement of the First Amendment and noted that the agency doesn't have the authority to revoke broadcast licenses over content.

Trump has in the past championed Sinclair, which requires its stations to carry Trump-boosting commentary from pundits including Boris Epshteyn, a veteran of the president's 2016 campaign. But it wasn't previously clear how he felt about the deal, which posed a competitive threat to Trump allies including Ruddy and 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

The move to send the deal into regulatory limbo came as a surprise to many FCC watchers after the Pai-led agency made a number of moves easing regulatory burdens on Sinclair. Those included the restoration of the technologically obsolete "UHF discount" that lets TV station owners skirt federal limits on nationwide reach. Sinclair's bid for Tribune would have been impossible without the discount.

FCC spokespeople didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Margaret Harding McGill contributed to this report.

