FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's comments risk putting him at odds with President Donald Trump. | AP Photo FCC chairman defends First Amendment after Trump broadcaster threats 'I believe in the First Amendment,' Pai said at a telecom law event in Washington, without mentioning Trump by name.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Tuesday defended the First Amendment and said his agency can't revoke the license of a broadcaster based on its content, six days after President Donald Trump threatened to pull the licenses of TV networks he dislikes.

"I believe in the First Amendment," Pai said at a telecom law event in Washington, without mentioning Trump by name. "The FCC under my leadership will stand for the First Amendment, and under the law the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast."


Trump last week lashed out at an NBC News report that he had sought a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, calling it "pure fiction" and suggesting broadcasters' licenses should be challenged when they put out "fake news."

The FCC oversees licenses for individual TV stations, not networks like NBC, and telecom experts have said it's highly unlikely the agency would follow through on Trump's threat. But Democrats have kept up pressure on Pai to defend the First Amendment, with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel warning over the weekend that "history won't be kind to silence."

Trump named Pai as FCC chairman in January.

Asked if there's a role for the FCC in deciding what is "fake news" and doing something about it, Pai answered, "Traditionally that has not been within the FCC's jurisdiction," adding, "I'm a lawyer by training, of course. I tend to hew as closely as I can to the terms of the Communications Act and of course to other applicable legal principles, and so that's the standard that we adopt, at least, going forward."

Pai's comments risk putting him at odds with Trump, who has shown a pattern of directing his Twitter-fueled ire at appointees whose words and actions cross him, such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn’s hopes of becoming chairman of the Federal Reserve dimmed after he criticized Trump’s response to this summer’s violent neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville, Va.

The FCC chairman will likely be pressed further on the issue at a House Energy & Commerce hearing next week, with Pai and the four other FCC commissioners invited to testify under oath.

Democrats said they were less than impressed with Pai's comments.

“This statement is better than nothing, but it is merely a reiteration of the FCC’s authorities under the law," Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in a statement. "What we needed is a full-throated defense of the independence of the FCC against political interference. When the president announced his intent to retaliate against a broadcaster based on content, the FCC should have rejected it.”

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“He’s late to the game,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said, adding she's glad he "finally" spoke up.

But Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said the FCC chairman did what he had to do and it's time to move on.

“If he gets in the habit of responding to all of Trump’s tweets ... as we all know, that can become kind of an all-consuming process," Thune said in an interview. "I think he probably said what needs to be said, I think we know what his position on the First Amendment is, and he would have a different view than what was articulated by the president in his tweet.”

Trump’s recent tweets raising the issue of Republicans receiving equal time on TV have sparked speculation that the president is interested in reviving the fairness doctrine, a long-retired FCC rule that required broadcasters to give contrasting views on issues of public importance.

But Pai on Tuesday called the fairness doctrine "an affront to the First Amendment to have the government micromanaging how much time a particular broadcast outlet decided to devote to a particular topic" and an "administrative nightmare" that forced FCC employees to spend countless hours listening and logging broadcast content.

Ashley Gold and John Hendel contributed to this report.

