Donald Trump has said he will report NBC News' Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker to the Federal Communications Commission after she described his election endorsement record as having "mixed results" during a local television appearance. The threat comes as the FCC is already defending itself in a lawsuit brought by ABC, which accuses the regulator of retaliating against broadcasters over their news coverage, making Trump's latest outburst part of a wider pattern of pressure on media organisations he considers unfavourable.

Welker made the comment on Washington affiliate WRC-TV, not on Meet the Press itself, noting that while Trump's pick Darline Graham had recently won her South Carolina primary, his endorsement record had been uneven. Indeed, several Trump-backed candidates have lost recent races, including Mike Lindell in Minnesota's gubernatorial primary, Rep. Andy Ogles in Tennessee, and Rep. Randy Feenstra in Iowa. Trump disputed this on Truth Social, claiming a 99% overall success rate and 100% in Senate races, and called for FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to "rebuke or punish" Welker and criticised "fake polls." The FCC states its authority is narrow and it cannot legally censor the press, with any news distortion inquiry meant to focus only on deliberately misleading reporting; a judge is due to hear ABC's case for a restraining order against the FCC in October.