The fake news media just can't help themselves.
ABC News sent their White House correspondent into the Oval Office during a meeting with the Saudi crown prince, and she thought it was the perfect time to ambush President Trump with gotcha questions about Jeffrey Epstein.
Now Trump exploded at an ABC reporter with one question that could cost the network everything.
ABC's Mary Bruce Picks the Wrong Fight at the Wrong Time
ABC News White House correspondent Mary Bruce walked into the Oval Office on Tuesday knowing exactly what she wanted to do.
She waited until Trump was hosting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and then launched into the Epstein files, demanding to know why Trump hasn't personally ordered the Department of Justice to release everything.
"Why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files?" Bruce asked. "Why not just do it now?"¹
Trump wasn't having it.
"It's not the question that I mind, it's your attitude," Trump fired back. "I think you are a terrible reporter."²
He called her "a terrible person" and told her she should "go back and learn how to be a reporter."³
Trump pointed out that he threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago years ago because he thought Epstein was "a sick pervert" and said he had no involvement with the man afterward.⁴
Then he dropped the hammer on ABC.
"I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because your news is so fake and it's so wrong," Trump declared. "We have a great commissioner who should look at that."⁵
https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1990915090565009914?s=20
That commissioner is FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago just this past weekend.
Trump's FCC Chairman Has Already Drawn Blood From Big Media
This isn't the first time Trump has called for revoking network licenses, but this time there's a major difference.
Brendan Carr isn't just talking.
Back in September, Carr went after ABC when Jimmy Kimmel made disgusting comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson. "These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."⁶
Hours later, ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Carr has launched investigations into nearly every major broadcast network since taking the helm of the FCC in January.
https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1970529550749610042?s=20
CBS paid $16 million to settle Trump's lawsuit over their deceptively edited 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.⁷
The FCC approved the Paramount-Skydance merger only after the company agreed to install a bias monitor and scrap their DEI programs.⁸
Trump's first FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, rejected his calls to revoke NBC's license in 2017, saying the agency didn't have the authority to do it over news content.⁹
Carr has made clear he sees things differently.
The Real Story Democrats Don't Want You to Know
Here's what makes this whole dust-up so infuriating.
The same day Bruce was demanding answers from Trump about Epstein, the House voted 427-1 to release the files.¹⁰
The Senate passed it unanimously just hours later.¹¹
Trump said he'll sign it.
So what exactly was Bruce's point?
She was trying to create the impression that Trump is somehow hiding something about Epstein when the reality is Democrats like Bill Clinton and Larry Summers are the ones with actual documented connections to the man.
Trump pointed this out directly.
"Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, who ran Harvard, was with him every single night, every single weekend. They lived together. They went to his island many times. I never did," Trump said.¹²
He called the whole thing "a Democrat hoax" designed to distract from the $21 trillion in economic issues he'd been discussing with the Saudi crown prince.¹³
This is exactly the pattern we've seen from the fake news media throughout Trump's presidency.
They take a story that should embarrass Democrats, flip it around, and try to pin it on Trump through innuendo and hostile questioning.
ABC's corporate parent Disney owns 10 broadcast stations that all require FCC licenses.¹⁴
With Carr at the FCC and major mergers requiring regulatory approval, those licenses give Trump real leverage he didn't have in his first term.
https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1990922077998887182?s=20
The media companies know it too.
Multiple broadcast executives have told FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez that given the threats from Trump and the White House, they've instructed reporters "to be careful about what they're reporting."¹⁵
That's not censorship.
That's accountability.
For decades these networks have operated as an arm of the Democrat Party with zero consequences.
They pushed the Russia hoax.
They suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story.
They ran interference for every failed Biden policy.
Now they're finally facing a president who isn't going to let them get away with it, and an FCC chairman willing to use every tool at his disposal.
Mary Bruce thought she could embarrass Trump in front of a foreign leader with a gotcha question about Epstein.
Instead, she might have just handed Trump the excuse he needs to make an example out of ABC.
¹ CNBC, "Trump calls for ABC's license to be revoked after reporter asks about Jeffrey Epstein files," November 18, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ U.S. News & World Report, "Trump Calls for ABC Broadcast Licenses to Be Revoked After Reporter Question," November 18, 2025.
⁶ NBC News, "Trump suggests FCC could revoke licenses of TV broadcasters that give him too much 'bad publicity,'" September 19, 2025.
⁷ NPR, "FCC chair Brendan Carr leads Trump's charge against the media," September 19, 2025.
⁸ PBS NewsHour, "Trump's 'censorship and control' campaign threatens press freedom, FCC commissioner says," July 30, 2025.
⁹ U.S. News & World Report, "Trump Calls for ABC Broadcast Licenses to Be Revoked After Reporter Question," November 18, 2025.
¹⁰ NPR, "House votes to approve release of the Epstein files," November 18, 2025.
¹¹ NBC News, "Congress passes bill to force the release of the Epstein files," November 18, 2025.
¹² CNBC, "Trump calls for ABC's license to be revoked after reporter asks about Jeffrey Epstein files," November 18, 2025.
¹³ Ibid.
¹⁴ NPR, "Trump calls for FCC to revoke ABC and NBC licenses," August 25, 2025.
¹⁵ Variety, "Defeat the Press: How Donald Trump's Attacks on News Outlets Undermine the First Amendment," July 18, 2025.
