Trump announced on Truth Social that Kristen Welker will be reported to the FCC after she described his primary endorsement record as mixed results.
Page A4From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 31 August 2026
NBC anchor accurately reports Trump's endorsement record; Trump vows FCC punishment for the inaccuracy.
As it ran on the front
The President's request that the Federal Communications Commission review NBC's coverage is, this office wishes to state plainly, a matter of accuracy, not retaliation, and any suggestion otherwise misunderstands both the FCC's mandate and the President's evident patience with the press up to this point.
The specific complaint concerns anchor Kristen Welker's reporting on the President's endorsement record. NBC's segment, this office understands, laid out which endorsed candidates won and which lost, using the President's own public statements as the source material. The President has characterized this reporting as a 'purposeful inaccuracy.' This office is prepared to defend that characterization at length, provided length is not confused with evidence, which it will not be, because there is none to submit, because the numbers cited were his.…
…(cont) That said — and this office wants to be careful here — accuracy complaints are not typically filed against reporting that quotes the complainant directly. That is usually called a transcript. This office is not aware of a regulatory process for disputing a transcript of one's own remarks, though if one exists, this office would like it identified, filed, and never spoken of again.
The President has further stated that Ms. Welker will face 'punishment' for what his office describes as doing her job, which this office would like to clarify is not a threat but a — this office is checking the language now — it is, in fact, characterized as punishment, by him, in his own words, which this office cannot recharacterize without contradicting the client directly, and this office does not do that.
To be clear: the FCC does not revoke a journalist's credentials for reporting a politician's own record back to him. The FCC does not do that. This office is confident the FCC does not do that. This office will be seeking confirmation from the FCC that the FCC does not do that.
The official position, restated for the record: this is about accuracy. It has always been about accuracy. It will continue to be about accuracy, right up until the complaint is filed, reviewed, and — this office assumes — dismissed, at which point it will have been about accuracy the entire time.
“An anchor lists his own comments back to him, accurately, and the response isn't a correction — it's a threat to pull her network's paper through the agency that grants it. That's not a media dispute, that's the referee getting called into the owner's box. When the guy in charge of the rules is also the guy filing the complaint, the rules aren't rules anymore, they're leverage.”
“The President is well within his rights to request FCC review of demonstrably false reporting — this isn't retaliation, it's accountability journalism should welcome. Though the anchor in question was, by all accounts, quoting his own prior statements back to him verbatim, so the 'inaccuracy' here is — is that not just the reporting? No, this reporter needs a minute.”
The receipts
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday to threaten NBC journalist Kristen Welker with "rebuke or punishment" from the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, after she accurately reported that his endorsement had netted…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.