Raw Story

CNN anchor Abby Phillip clashed with her GOP colleagues on Wednesday over the decision to suspend "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on network television.

Phillip discussed the move with former Republican Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker and GOP strategist Scott Jennings. It occurred just hours after Nexstar Media Group, which owns several local ABC affiliates, announced that it is suspending Kimmel's show "indefinitely" because of comments the comedian made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's slaying.

Phillip questioned the timeline of Kimmel's suspension and the involvement of FCC chairman Brendan Carr in the deal. On Tuesday, Carr gave a threatening interview with MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson, where he claimed that the FCC would be taking active measures to ensure broadcast companies abide by the public interest standard.

Within 24 hours, Kimmel was pulled off the air, Phillip noted.

"Nexstar has a very clear financial interest in not getting on the wrong side of that guy," Phillip said to Walker, talking about Carr. "You don't see the problem with that?"

Both Walker and Jennings argued that Nexstar was making a "business decision" by taking Kimmel off the air.

"Do you believe in free speech or not?" Phillip asked pointedly.

"I do, but you can't expect us to sit with our hands tied behind our backs," Walker said.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) lashed out at her GOP colleagues on Wednesday night after a resolution she filed to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and strip Omar of her committee assignments failed to pass.

Mace filed the resolution a few days after Omar made comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's death in an interview with Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo News. In the interview, Omar called Kirk's death "tragic" and discussed reasons why she disagreed with some of Kirk's ideas.

Mace and several other MAGA figures called for Omar to be removed from Congress and deported to her home country of Somalia after the interview was released.

"Tonight, 210 Democrats and 4 Republicans sold out and chose to protect Ilhan Omar, a woman who mocked the cold-blooded assassination of an innocent American husband and father, who has openly supported ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood, and who has repeatedly incited political violence," Mace posted on her official X account.

"They didn’t stand with Charlie Kirk," she continued. "They didn’t stand with the millions of Americans mourning his death. They stood with the one who mocked his legacy. They showed us exactly who they are, and we won’t forget."

The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board issued a stark warning to President Donald Trump on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve voted to lower interest rates by 0.25%.

The vote happened after Trump applied months of public pressure on the central bank to lower interest rates. The president has moved to install multiple new governors who would vote to reduce rates, with the newest Trump-aligned governor, Stephen Miran, joining the board this week.

"President Trump wants lower interest rates, and on Wednesday, he got his wish as the Federal Open Market Committee cut the overnight rate by a quarter point," the editors argued in a new op-ed. "The FOMC also delivered an implicit warning about what this might mean for the economy. Mr. Trump now owns that, too."

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that there are still some risks the U.S. economy needs to navigate. For instance, inflation and unemployment have trickled upwards. Powell said those factors have the central bank torn between two mandates: stabilizing prices and maximizing employment.

The Journal's editorial board also wished Trump "good luck" as his administration addresses these economic conditions.

"It may be that everything works out fine: inflation drifts downward after a brief price bump from tariffs, the economy booms despite tariffs and a looming labor shortage, the housing market enters a new golden age, and financial markets gallop happily off into the artificial-intelligence sunset," the editors wrote.

"But if Mr. Trump is wrong, voters will notice sustained inflation and the lack of gains in real wages. Having staked so much on his political assault on the Fed, Mr. Trump owns the outcome now for good or ill," they added.

Read the entire op-ed here.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued a stern threat Wednesday over comedian Jimmy Kimmel's remarks that Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA conservative.

"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney," Carr said in an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson on the Benny Show. "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."

Carr threatened immediate action against Kimmel, ABC and Disney over the comments, claiming he deliberately misled the public and said "it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible" in the wake of Kirk's killing. He also said that Kimmel should be suspended and that ABC should lose its broadcast license.

"They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest," he said.

He said it was time for licensed broadcasters to push back on Kimmel, claiming that they should be aware that they could face fines from the FCC.

Carr, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in January, says the agency has a “strong case” to hold Kimmel, ABC, and Disney accountable over "spreading dangerous, politically motivated misinformation."

Republicans have killed a House effort to approve subpoenas for the CEOs of four major banks — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of New York Mellon — to obtain documents related to "suspicious" financial transactions flagged as part of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) motioned the House Judiciary Committee to subpoena the banks for the documents after a hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) asked for a vote to "table" the motion, meaning they wouldn't even debate it before a vote. While Democrats were winning the vote with the support of Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY), the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) held open the vote until every Republican could rush back to vote in support of tabling the motion.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) then requested that documents be subpoenaed from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent around "suspicious" transactions of Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

Republicans voted to table that motion.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) requested to subpoena the Bureau of Prisons to turn over documents related to the transfer of Maxwell from the Florida minimum security prison to the prison camp in Texas that offers fewer restrictions.

Republicans killed that motion as well.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) then motioned that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino be subpoenaed to produce the files related to Epstein, including all of the witness interviews and search warrant materials.

Republicans tabled the motion.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) offered an apology to fired CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez on Wednesday during the Senate Health Committee hearing, surprising CNN anchor Brianna Keilar.

"That apology from Sen. Kaine was really something," Keilar said, adding that officials who heard her testimony over her resignation called her and other CDC officials who resigned "heroes."

Monarez was fired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy disputes. In the hearing, Monarez testified that Kennedy asked her not to talk to senators and pressured her to give him full pre-approval over any changes to vaccine policies at the agency. She, along with other ousted colleagues, warned the senators that Kennedy is risking Americans' public health.

“Dr. Monarez, I owe you an apology," Kaine said. "When you were here for your confirmation hearing, I questioned you very significantly, not on your qualifications – you got over the qualifications bar easily – but my worries about the direction of HHS made me question you very significantly on your backbone, a trait that is not in long supply in this town. And then when I voted against your confirmation. I cited that as the reason. Again, no concern about your qualifications. I had concern about your backbone. And I was wrong and I apologize to you for being wrong. I think it’s important when you’re wrong to admit you’re wrong.”

Democrats had voted unanimously against her confirmation.

Kennedy, who is known for his anti-vaccine advocacy, later fired 17 CDC employees and replaced them with his own selected staff who follow his views.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that issues vaccine recommendations, is scheduled to meet Thursday, according to reports.