The House Oversight and Accountability Committee opened an inquiry Thursday into the Federal Communications Commission's expedited approval of a deal that would give Democrat megadonor George Soros a large stake in more than 200 U.S. radio stations, alleging the body was in an effort to "interfere in the 2024 election and politicize" a body that is supposed to be independent.
The investigation announced by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., came after FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr disclosed last week to Congress that the Commission's review of a Soros-backed purchase of Audacy stations was taking a "shortcut" around its normal procedures for reviewing station deals that could result in a significant foreign stake or control.
"The FCC appears to be bypassing standard processes and procedures in an unprecedented way to benefit a Democrat megadonor acquiring a major equity stake in hundreds of local radio stations across the country," the lawmakers wrote.
The committee described Soros as a "financier of organizations advocating for speech restrictions and censorship of conservatives online" and said a group he was involved with was attempting to purchase $415 million in debt in a Chapter 11 reorganization of Audacy, Inc., which owns over 200 radio stations.
"By all appearances, the FCC majority isn’t just expediting, but is bypassing an established process to do a favor for George Soros and facilitate his influence over hundreds of radio stations before the November election," Comer and Langworthy wrote.
The FCC has denied wrongdoing in the review but Carr, a Republican, called the commission handling of the radio deal unprecedented.
"The FCC is not following its normal process for reviewing a transaction," Carr said last week. "We have established over a number of years one way in which you can get approval from the FCC when you have an excess of 25 percent foreign ownership, which this transaction does. It seems to me that the FCC is poised to create, for the first time, an entirely new shortcut.”
