CBS accused of ‘corporate capitulation’ amid row over Colbert interview with Democrat – US politics live | US politics

Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news over the next few hours.

We start with FCC commissioner Anna M Gomez criticizes CBS for what she calls “corporate capitulation in the face of this administration’s broader campaign to censor and control speech”.

Gomez, the only Democrat on the FCC, was appointed to the five-person board in 2023 by former president Joe Biden. His comments came after talkshow host Stephen Colbert accused the Trump administration and CBS of censorship after he said the network told him not to air a television interview with a Texas Democrat running for the Senate.

Gomez said in his statement:

This is another disturbing example of institutional capitulation in the face of the administration’s broader campaign to censor and control speech.

The FCC has no legal authority to pressure broadcasters for political purposes or to create an environment that restricts free speech.

CBS is fully protected under the First Amendment from determining which interviews to air, which makes the decision to bow to political pressure even more disappointing.

Colbert told Late Show viewers on his show that network lawyers also told him he was prohibited from talking about their refusal to air his interview with Texas state representative James Talarico, who is seeking his party’s nomination to challenge Republican incumbent John Cornyn for the Senate seat in November.

“He was supposed to be here, but our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, told us flat out that we couldn’t put him on the air,” Colbert said, citing concerns that this would trigger a legal requirement to provide equal access to Talarico’s campaign rivals.

The interview was eventually broadcast on television Colbert’s YouTube pageIt is outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission. CBS disputed Colbert’s account, saying the network “provided legal guidance” that merely airing the interview could violate the FCC directive.

Read our full story here:

In other developments:

• Democrats mourned his death Jesse JacksonCivil rights leader who paved the way for the Democratic presidential nomination campaign in 1988 Barack Obama.

• Donald Trump‘s former receptionist, Chamberlain HarrisThe 26-year-old will be sworn in Thursday as the newest member of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts, just in time to review ballroom plans.

• U.S. Capitol Police said officers “surrounded and arrested a man running toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun” on Tuesday.

• US immigration judge ends Trump administration’s deportation efforts Muhsin Mehdavi, Palestinian green card holder and Columbia University student helped organize protests at school over Israeli attack on Gaza

• After the Republican congressman Randy Nice The reaction from Democrats was swift after he posted an Islamophobic comment on social media over the weekend.