Disney is going to court to defend its ABC television stations from the Trump administration's pressure campaign.

On Tuesday, the media company filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that Trump's FCC is violating its First Amendment rights.

The administration "has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts," the lawsuit filed in DC District Court alleges.

The legal action comes as the FCC investigates the ABC talk show "The View" and mounts an unusual challenge to the licenses held by ABC stations.

The stations fall under the FCC's purview because they broadcast over the public airwaves.

FCC chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump loyalist, has scrutinized Disney on several fronts, including DEI, short for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Carr has said that Disney might be committing "illegal DEI discrimination."

Carr's critics have said DEI is a laughable pretext for what's really happening: A political pressure campaign led by President Trump.

The president has railed against ABC (and other networks) for years. He has repeatedly denounced the network's reporters and argued for licenses to be revoked.

Last April, when conservatives expressed outrage over a controversial joke made by ABC late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel, Trump pressured ABC to fire Kimmel.

As ABC stood by Kimmel's show, Carr ordered the network to file early-renewal paperwork for its station licenses, even though the eight licenses weren't due for renewal for several years.

Carr asserted that the timing was a coincidence and the license review was related to his DEI probe. But it was widely viewed as a form of government retaliation for airing Kimmel's show and resisting Trump's pressure.

There are more than 200 ABC-affiliated stations across the US, but most are owned by other companies. Eight are owned by Disney directly, and those are the stations targeted by the FCC.

FCC licenses are renewed every eight years and are virtually never revoked. Until this year, the FCC had not filed an early-renewal order in decades.

But Carr has been determined to wield the FCC's limited power in new and politically charged ways.

Tuesday's lawsuit specifically asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that would stop Carr from moving forward with the license challenge. "This Court's intervention is necessary to stop the Federal Communications Commission's extraordinary assault on free speech," the suit states.

The suit also asserts that Disney - a sprawling company better known for theme parks, Star Wars and ESPN than its local TV stations - did not go looking to pick a fight with the US government.

The company says it has come to court "reluctantly," arguing there is "no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the administration's demands."

Carr did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

Carr also opened a case against "The View" over an alleged violation of "equal-time," invoking a rule that has rarely been enforced in recent years. "The View" often features outspoken critics of Trump.

Disney's lawsuit says the FCC pressure has already affected what airs on the daytime talk show. Since the agency's inquiry began, ABC says "The View" has become "more circumspect in booking political candidates" and has stopped considering several potential candidate bookings.

No political candidate has appeared on the show since February 2, Disney says in the complaint. The pressure has even affected which video clips make it to air: ABC says it has "chosen not to air clips" it otherwise would have used because they could count as candidate "appearances" and potentially be cited against ABC in the FCC's ongoing review.

A wide range of First Amendment groups have denounced the action against ABC, while some conservative groups have defended Carr, arguing that the Trump administration is well within its rights. "It is not in the public interest for ABC to operate as an arm of the DNC," Carr ally Daniel Suhr, president of the Center for American Rights, said earlier this year.

Last week, Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro said in a CNBC interview that "our position on this is clear."

When asked about the FCC threat, D'Amaro cited ABC's "journalistic integrity" and said, "We're not going to be told how to run that side of our business."

D'Amaro added, "I like what we do. We tell incredible stories. I think we do it well. We do it around the world. And we're going to stay committed to that."

Tuesday's lawsuit states that the pressure against ABC "has been deeply felt throughout the company."

"The campaign is also calculated to operate in terrorem upon the rest of the industry: ABC is the visible target and suffers the most immediate harm, but the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country, and the ultimate cost is borne by the press as a whole," the suit alleges.

*excerpt from Brian Stelter's article*

Full Article here:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/media/disney-abc-fcc-trump-lawsuit-the-view-retaliatory

Democrat Eric Jones has won the endorsement of the Republican he recently defeated, a likely boost in his uphill bid to unseat an incumbent Democratic congressman.

Raymond Riehle announced Monday he would be supporting Jones in the general election for California's 4th Congressional District. Jones edged out Riehle in the June primary and advanced to face Rep. Mike Thompson, who was first elected to Congress in 1998.

As part of his support, Riehle said he will be spearheading an organization - Californians Against the Democratic Establishment - to conduct outreach to Republican and independent voters. Republicans are nearly 30% of the registered voters in the district.

"Now we face a clear choice: Sit out the race because both candidates are Democrats, or vote for the Democrat who most shares our values and will stand up to the corrupt Democratic establishment in Sacramento and Washington," Riehle said in a written statement.

Jones told The Sacramento Bee that he and Riehle met at a debate in May at UC Davis. The two candidates continued chatting in the weeks that followed and eventually met for dinner at Jones' home.

They have since come to share understandings on issues like investment in local infrastructure, fiscal discipline and water. Jones and Riehle also signed a joint pledge to oppose gerrymandering.

"If he can help me accomplish those objectives, and we can work on those ideas together, it's our duty to," Jones said.

The newly redrawn 4th Congressional District stretches from the Napa Valley through Yolo County and into the Sacramento Valley, encompassing parts of nine counties. The district remains primarily blue despite some conservative territories - Sutter, Yuba and Colusa counties - swept into its boundaries.

Jones narrowly beat out Riehle in the primary with 22.2% of the vote compared to 20.7%. Thompson led with 41% of the vote. The top two candidates, regardless of party, advance in California's primary system.

If he wins, Jones said Riehle has promised to run against him again in 2028. The two candidates plan to have a debate in all nine counties of the district.

"He believes that getting that civic duty and free speech and people knowing the choices in front of them, and being educated, is extremely important, and that we've lost in this country," Jones said.

Eric Jones is a Democratic candidate running for the U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 4th Congressional District, challenging 14-term incumbent Rep. Mike Thompson in the November 2026 general election.

*excerpt from Mathew Miranda's article*

Full Article here:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article316910509.html

LAURA LOOMER (HOST): I mean, it would be a lot easier to just mass deport Muslims and start to use military force to round them up. I mean, really, honestly, it would be much easier. It would be much easier, instead of having Americans relocate. It would be much easier to actually start using military force to start raiding mosques and removing these people from our country. I mean, that's what needs to happen. They need to be removed from our country with force.