*

Trump criticizes ABC over Epstein question, calls news

"fake"

*

FCC Chair Carr praised by Trump, urged to revoke ABC

licenses

*

FCC Commissioner Gomez dismisses Trump's threats as

legally

baseless

*

FCC has not revoked a license under public interest

standard in

decades

*

Trump's comments follow previous criticism of ABC and NBC

licenses

By David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) -

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that

broadcasting licenses used by affiliates of Walt Disney's ( DIS )

ABC should be "taken away" after he disagreed with a

question posed by a reporter for the network.

Trump made the comment after a reporter for ABC News asked Trump

about the Jeffrey Epstein political scandal during an Oval

Office event with the Saudi crown prince.

"I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because

your news is so fake and it's so wrong," Trump said.

Trump's comments were his latest effort to pressure

regulators to target a media outlet that has drawn his ire but

to date he has had little success.

Trump praised Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan

Carr, whom he had tapped to lead the agency in January. "He

should look at that," Trump said of removing the licenses.

Carr visited with Trump in Florida this weekend, according

to a social media post from Carr.

It was the second time in recent months that ABC has been in

Trump's cross-hairs.

Trump in September praised Republican Carr after he

pressured broadcasters to take ABC late-night talk show host

Jimmy Kimmel off air after Kimmel made comments about the

assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Trump also

suggested that broadcasters' licenses should be taken away.

Trump has repeatedly called on the FCC to revoke the station

licenses of ABC and Comcast ( CMCSA )-owned NBC and charge them

for using the public airwaves.

The FCC, an independent federal agency, issues eight-year

licenses to individual broadcast stations, not networks. The FCC

can revoke a license under a rarely used public interest

standard but it has not done so for more than four decades.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez rejected Trump's

threats. "The FCC doesn't get to decide whether the news

coverage of those in power is acceptable," Gomez said. "It has

neither the legal authority nor the constitutional right to

pursue broadcasters for their journalism. These threats sound

ominous, but they're empty."

Earlier this month, Trump called on NBC to fire late-night

talk show host Seth Meyers and criticized the host's satirical

monologue.

In July, the FCC approved the $8.4 billion merger between CBS

parent Paramount Global and Skydance Media, after

Skydance agreed to ensure CBS news and entertainment programming

is free of bias, and to hire an ombudsman for at least two years

to review complaints and end diversity programs.

The approval came shortly after Paramount agreed to pay $16

million to settle Trump's lawsuit against CBS over its editing

of a "60 Minutes" interview with his Democratic presidential

opponent Kamala Harris. House Democrats

are investigating

.

In January, Carr had reinstated complaints the Harris CBS

interview, how ABC News moderated the pre-election televised

debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump, and

Comcast ( CMCSA )-owned NBC for allowing Harris to appear on "Saturday

Night Live" shortly before the election.

Trump's first FCC chair, Ajit Pai, in 2017 had rejected

Trump's calls to revoke NBC licenses over the content of a news

report, saying the agency "does not have the authority to revoke

a license of a broadcast station based on the content."