WASHINGTON — President Trump raged at "Meet the Press" anchor Kristen Welker Sunday for casting aspersions on his endorsement record — saying she should be reprimanded by the FCC.
Page A14From§Eachthe evening edition — 30 August 2026
Trump seeks FCC punishment for accurate reporting; Minnesota court ends Lindell's recount bid.
As it ran on the front
Let's be clear: nothing happened here. A network anchor made an offhand comment about the President's endorsement record, and the President, exercising his constitutional right to be extremely online about it, asked the FCC to consider a rebuke. That's called accountability journalism working exactly the way the First Amendment... no wait, that's not what this is. That's a sitting president asking a federal regulator to look into a reporter for saying something true. Did I say that? That doesn't sound like me.
Let's try again. The FCC has broad authority over broadcast licenses, and if a network wants to keep its license, maybe it should think twice before airing accurate information about the President's endorsement record. That's not pressure, that's licensing standards. I'm told that's not a great answer either.…
…(cont) Meanwhile in Minnesota, Mike Lindell took his governor primary loss to the state Supreme Court asking for a recount. And the Minnesota Supreme Court, in its wisdom, closed the book on it. This is exactly the system working. This is due process. This is — okay, it's also not the first recount request rooted in 'I don't believe the number' to end exactly where the count already said it would. But that doesn't mean the next one will land the same way. Someday the math will agree with him. Statistically.
The through-line here, and I'm not saying you should look for one, is that two men in two states spent this week asking two institutions — a federal regulator, a state supreme court — to intervene not because a rule was broken, but because a fact was inconvenient. One wanted a broadcaster reviewed for repeating his own record back to him. The other wanted a court to find votes that a ballot count didn't have.
Neither institution did what was asked. The FCC has announced no action. The Minnesota Supreme Court said no. That's not a conspiracy, that's Tuesday. It's also, and I want to be careful how I phrase this, kind of the entire point of having institutions — they're built to say no to the guy asking for a favor, even when the guy is used to getting one. I don't love typing that sentence. But there it is, on the record, same as the endorsement count and the vote count both were before anybody asked anyone to look again.
“Guy loses, guy asks the court to find him votes that aren't there. Guy gets quoted accurately, guy asks the FCC to find the reporter a punishment. It's the same move both times — you don't like the scoreboard, you don't argue the game, you go over the ref's head to whoever signs the ref's check. Both refs said no this week, which just means the refs still work, for now.”
“Look, nobody's punishing anybody, the President simply flagged a broadcast comment for regulatory review, that's oversight, that's not — okay, it's a sitting president asking the FCC to look at a reporter for repeating his own endorsement record back to him. Did I say that? That doesn't sound like me. And Lindell wasn't disputing the count, he was exercising his right to request a recount, which the Minnesota Supreme Court reviewed and closed, so the system worked exactly as designed, which I guess means it worked against him, huh.”
The receipts
The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected MyPillow founder Mike Lindell’s call for a recount after his loss in the Republican gubernatorial primary by 11 points. Lindell has made a name for himself on the national stage for consistently denying…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.