Disney Sues Trump’s FCC & Fake Polling Exposed | 8.19.26

**Cabot Phillips** (0:00)
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**John Bickley** (0:50)
Disney goes to war with Trump's FCC over ABC, The View, and Jimmy Kimmel.

**Brendan Carr** (0:56)
The FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation. I don't think we're better off as a country for it.

**John Bickley** (1:02)
I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, August 19th. This is Morning Wire.

**Georgia Howe** (1:16)
Florida voters choose their nominees for governor as Ron DeSantis terms out, while Californians choose their replacement for disgraced congressman Eric Swalwell.

**John Bickley** (1:26)
And a stunning announcement by a supposed polling firm sends shockwaves through the industry and has a Democratic mayor calling for prosecutions.

**Dustin Olson** (1:34)
This is less of an indictment on the polling industry as I think it's an indictment on media and lazy media and media that wants to put out polls that fit their narrative.

**Georgia Howe** (1:46)
Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

**John Bickley** (1:53)
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ABC and parent company Disney have escalated their fight with the Trump administration, filing a First Amendment lawsuit against the FCC.
The network claims the agency mounted a retaliatory campaign against them that poses an existential threat.

**Georgia Howe** (2:53)
Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with the details. So Megan, there's been a lot of back and forth between ABC and the Trump administration over the last few years. The last time we reported on this, ABC and Disney were the ones getting sued. So now we're seeing the reverse. What triggered this lawsuit?

**Megan Basham** (3:12)
Yeah, Georgia. So this is all about license renewals this time. And this is a really big deal when it comes to potentially setting some precedent. So Disney and ABC say that the FCC violated their First Amendment rights by requiring eight of their broadcast affiliates to seek early renewals on those licenses. Now, ordinarily, they wouldn't have expired until 2028 And we are talking about some of ABC's biggest outlets here on the local level, Chicago, Houston, New York, Los Angeles. And ABC says that those early renewals are part of a quote unquote retaliatory campaign because the president doesn't like what ABC broadcasts. Now, some context here, Georgia, is that back in 2024, and you alluded to this, Trump successfully sued ABC after anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly claimed that a jury found the president, quote, liable for rape.
That was not true, and ABC agreed to a $15 million settlement and an on-air apology. But that war between Trump and ABC just continued even after that. As in April, their late night host, Jimmy Kimmel, joked about First Lady Melania Trump becoming a widow, and he made that joke only two days before a third assassination attempt on the president. And here's that clip for those who might have missed that controversy.

**Dustin Olson** (4:36)
Our First Lady Melania is here. Look at her. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.

**Megan Basham** (4:43)
So really, this is all just the latest clash in what has been an escalating feud between the Trump administration and ABC.

**John Bickley** (4:51)
So what evidence is ABC citing in their claim that this early renewal order is political retaliation?

**Megan Basham** (4:57)
You know, mostly they're pointing at the timing of the statements from FCC officials, as well as some of the president's own public statements.