'Hire a lawyer': Trump official hit with stern threat from House Dem over 'dirty deals'
U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) attends a House Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel (not pictured), on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 17. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

A Democrat on Thursday issued a stern threat to the FCC chairman who pushed to suspend Jimmy Kimmel's show, telling him to "hire a lawyer."

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was wearing a "Jimmy Kimmel Live" hat when he laid out the warning.

"There's going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year, and to the FCC chairperson and anyone involved in these dirty deals, get a lawyer and save your records because you're going to be in this room and you're going to be answering questions about the deals that you struck, and who benefited, and what the cost was to the American people because that happened," Swalwell said.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who was appointed by Trump, previously threatened ABC/Disney on a podcast Wednesday.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney," Carr said. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Kimmel was suspended Wednesday, just hours after the podcast aired. He has not commented yet.

President Donald Trump on Air Force One Thursday warned that networks could lose their FCC licenses if they air too much negative coverage of him.

"I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me," Trump said. "I get 97% negative, and yet I won it easily. I won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they're 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity... I mean, they're getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away."

BREAKING: Eric Swalwell just told the FCC chairman to hire a lawyer and preserve records because they will be held accountable in 2027 when democrats take the House. Oh and he’s wearing a Jimmy Kimmel hat.

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— Krassensteins (@krassenstein.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 10:36 AM