President Donald Trump raged against ABC putting talk show host Jimmy Kimmel back on the air, and CNN's White House reporter pointed to some of the most noteworthy elements of his social media screed.
The president claimed about an hour before Kimmel's return episode aired that the network had assured the White House that his show had been canceled, and Trump threatened to "go after them" for what he called an "illegal campaign contribution" by giving the comedian a platform to mock and criticize him.
"I think we’re going to test ABC out on this," Trump posted late Tuesday. "Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings."
CNN's Kevin Liptak reported on the latest developments in the ongoing feud between Trump and Kimmel, who has been a frequent target for his social media attacks over the years before Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcast licenses for ABC affiliates over the host's criticism of the president.
"The timing, I think, was pretty notablehere," Liptak said. "The president waited more than a day to weigh in on Disney's decision to bring Kimmel back, which was kind of aconspicuous silence. He waiteduntil an hour before the show aired, essentiallytrying to pre-empt whatever Kimmel was going to say, and thepresident's message was one ofdisbelief, but alsointimidation."
"Just to takeit piece by piece, the presidentsaying the White House was toldby ABC that his show wascanceled," Liptak added, and then quoted from the president's Truth Social post. "'Something happenedbetween then and now because hisaudience is gone and his talentwas never there.' So thepresident saying there for thefirst time that the White Housewas somehow involved in thesediscussions about ABC andsuggesting that they were toldsomething completely differentfrom what Disney was sayingpublicly, which is that this wasa suspension."
The president accused Kimmel of being "yet another arm" of the Democratic National Committee and accused him of violating campaign laws, and he then threatened legal action against the network, which had previously settled a defamation suit with Trump for $16 million over claims made by host George Stephanopoulos about his liability for sexual assault.
"It is thisthreat of action that's sostriking here," Liptak said. "He's not exactlyexplicit about what that wouldentail, whether this is legalaction or some kind ofpunishment by the government,whether through the [Federal Election Commission], forsome kind of campaign violationsor through the FCC, andremember, the president saidjust last week that networksthat are overwhelmingly criticalof him might have theirbroadcast license pulled."
"Eitherway, the president does seem outon a limb here," Liptak added. "Remember, someof his own supporters have saidhe's gone too far. Whetherit's [Sen.] Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said that hewas being reminiscent of amafioso, Joe Rogan, thepodcaster, yesterday saying thatthe government should not beinvolved in dictating what acomedian can and cannot say.Even the president's owndefenders last week were tryingto say that this was essentiallyjust a business decision and that the government wasn't involved at all. Now, that argument never really held a lot of weight because you heard the FCC chair threatening ABC beforehand, but now the president sort of completely pulling the rug out of that argument altogether."