President Trump is turning up the heat on ABC News, suggesting that his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, should “look at” revoking ABC’s broadcast license. 

ABC News’s chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, asked Mr. Trump why he is waiting for Congress to release the Epstein files. 

The president interjected, asking the reporter which news outlet she represented. “You know, it’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter.”

“You could even ask that same exact question nicely,” Mr. Trump said. “You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter. As far as the Epstein files, I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert.”

He went on to criticize Ms. Bruce for, in his view, not asking sufficient questions about Democrats’ alleged connections to Epstein. He also insisted the Epstein matter is a “Democrat hoax” designed to stop him from talking about his successes. 

“People are wise to your hoax,” Mr. Trump said. “And your company, your crappy company, is one of the perpetrators … I think the [broadcast] license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake, and it’s so wrong, and we have a great chairman who should look at that.”

The four major broadcast networks – ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox – have licenses that give them exclusive access to public airwaves that viewers can watch for free using old-fashioned antennas. The use of these airwaves has been enormously profitable to the networks.

Mr. Trump asserted that ABC’s coverage of him was  “97 percent negative.” His comment seemed to allude to a study from the conservative media watchdog, NewsBusters, which found that 92 percent of coverage of his administration by CBS, NBC, and ABC has been negative. 

“[When] Trump wins the election in a landslide, that means your news is not credible,” he said.

Mr. Trump’s comments come as his relationship with ABC has grown increasingly acrimonious in recent months. 

In December, ABC’s corporate parent, Disney, paid $16 million to settle the president’s defamation lawsuit after a star host, George Stephanopoulos, falsely and repeatedly said the president had been “found liable for rape.”

However, that settlement seems to have done little to improve relations between the White House and ABC since January 20. In June, ABC found itself in hot water with the Trump Administration after a veteran correspondent, Terry Moran, called Mr. Trump – as well as a top aide, Stephen Miller – a “world-class hater.” ABC fired Mr. Moran days after his comment. 

Mr. Trump also fumed over the network’s coverage of his decision to accept a luxury jet from Qatar to act as the temporary presidential plane and threatened to file a lawsuit after its reporters said Qatar gave him the plane for “free.”

Mr. Trump once again threatened to sue ABC in September after it decided to bring back its late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, from his roughly week-long suspension that was caused by the comedian stating that a “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” By the time of his comment, officials had said the suspect held left-wing views. 

In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump wrote, “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.”

The suspension came after two of the nation’s largest station groups, Sinclair and Nexstar, said they would preempt Mr. Kimmel’s show due to what they felt were his insensitive comments. The decision by Sinclair and Nexstar to preempt Mr. Kimmel’s show was cast as the station groups caving to pressure from the federal government after Mr. Carr said on September 17 that broadcasters “can find ways to take action on Mr. Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Mr. Carr’s comment, which was made hours before Sinclair and Nexstar announced their decision to preempt Mr. Kimmel’s show, was seen as a threat of future government action. (Mr. Carr has denied he was making a threat and that he merely meant an individual might file a complaint against the broadcasters, which the FCC would be statutorily obligated to investigate.)

Mr. Trump also snubbed an ABC reporter during a White House event in October and said he would not take questions from the network. That came after Mr. Stephanopoulos cut off Vice President Vance while he was responding to a question in an interview. 

“I don’t take questions from ABC Fake News after what you did with Stephanopoulos to the Vice President of the United States. I don’t take questions from ABC Fake News,” Mr. Trump said. 

Mr. Carr has repeatedly floated the idea of revoking broadcast licenses if a network “run[s] a narrow partisan circus.”

During an interview with NewsBusters in October, Mr. Carr said that broadcast networks have an “obligation to serve the public interest, which means looking out for the interest of the local community.”

“You can’t run a narrow partisan circus and ultimately be holding a broadcast license. You can do that on cable, you can do that on a podcast, but licensed broadcast TV is just fundamentally different,” he said. Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows. If you think there’s nothing you can do to lose a license, then it’s not a license. That’s called a property right … I’m very open to the idea that there’s broadcasters out there that may very well end up losing their licenses.”

ABC News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.