Fox News' Carlson Criticizes Senate GOP for 'Sitting on' Simington FCC Nomination

Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson criticized what he views as Senate Republicans’ reluctance to consider FCC nominee Nathan Simington before the Nov. 3 election. President Donald Trump named Simington, an NTIA senior adviser, last month as his pick to replace Commissioner Mike O'Rielly (see 2009150074), whose term expired. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other Republicans have been meeting with Simington (see 2009300022), but the committee hasn’t scheduled a hearing. “Republicans still control the Senate, so you would imagine they would be busy confirming the president’s nominees while they’re still able to” before the election, Carlson said on his Thursday TV show. “But they’re not. In some cases, they are blocking conservatives from getting appointments,” including Simington. If “you’re worried about the unchallenged power of Big Tech -- and you should be -- you ought to support Simington’s appointment” because of his involvement in writing Trump's executive order directing NTIA to petition for FCC regulations defining the scope of Communications Decency Act Section 230, Carlson said. “But Senate Republicans do not support it. They are sitting on his nomination. They are hoping instead they’ll be able to confirm” a nominee from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden “next year” if he wins the election. Trump “complained about this, including on Twitter” (see 2010070053), “but they’ve ignored it,” Carlson said. “Remember that next time you hear Republicans in Washington pretend that they care about free speech, pretend that they’re going to do something about the shocking abuse of the tech monopolies.”