Ted Cruz blasts the FCC chair accusing him of mafia style intimidation as the Jimmy Kimmel controversy spirals.NH

Cruz Likens F.C.C. Chair’s ‘Threat’ to That of a Mafia Boss

The Republican senator warned that retaliating against media outlets over coverage that conservatives view as negative would set a “dangerous” precedent.

Sept. 19, 2025Updated 7:34 p.m. ET

Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, on Friday harshly criticized Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, accusing him of mafia-like tactics and saying his threat to retaliate against media companies for speech on their airwaves was “dangerous as hell.”

Mr. Cruz was reacting to Mr. Carr’s threat to revoke ABC’s broadcast license because of remarks by the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel during a Monday night telecast about the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

The remarks from Cruz, who is closely aligned with the president and one of the most conservative members of the Senate, were the latest evidence that some on the right are deeply uncomfortable with their fellow Republicans’ efforts to clamp down on free speech by their political adversaries following Mr. Kirk’s death.

Mr. Cruz said Mr. Kimmel had been “lying” in the monologue that prompted ABC to pull his show, in which the comedian said that conservatives had been trying to portray Mr. Kirk’s assassin as “anything other than one of them.” But the senator also took Mr. Carr to task for suggesting on a right-wing podcast that if media companies did not shut down such statements, the federal government would step in do so.

“He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.’” Mr. Cruz said on his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” quoting Mr. Carr verbatim. “And I’ve got to say, that’s right out of Goodfellas. That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”

He went on to warn that a crackdown on speech on the left by the Trump administration would come back to bite conservatives the next time Democrats hold the White House.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.