- United States
- Utah
- Letter
Investigate FCC Chair Carr and Commissioner Trusty Over Paramount Gift Scandal
To: Rep. Maloy, Sen. Lee, Sen. Curtis
From: A constituent in Salt Lake City, UT
August 4
Launch a formal investigation into FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty for accepting gifts from Paramount while the company had active business before the agency — and if the evidence warrants it, pursue removal from office. This isn't a gray area. ProPublica documented that Carr received complimentary Kennedy Center tickets from Paramount over multiple years, and Trusty's own financial disclosures show over $12,000 in tickets to Paramount-sponsored events. That's not a technicality. That's a pattern.
Paramount is now seeking FCC approval for a massive merger with Warner Bros. Discovery — one of the largest media deals before federal regulators right now. The watchdog groups Democracy Defenders Fund and CREW have already filed complaints with the Office of Government Ethics and the FCC's Inspector General. The question of whether Carr and Trusty can impartially oversee that merger is not hypothetical. At minimum, Carr must recuse himself from all proceedings related to the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery transaction. If the investigation confirms violations of federal ethics rules, Congress must act. Regulators who accept gifts from the companies they regulate cannot be trusted to serve the public interest.