On Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The Briefing,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said CBS should not have kowtowed to the Trump administration by telling “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert that they would not air his Monday interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico because of the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time rule.
Host Jen Psaki said, “In CBS’ statement about what happened with the Colbert Show last night, they did a name check. I mean, they said the show received legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC’s equal time rule for two other candidates, including Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. What do you make of that explanation?”
Crockett said, “We actually got a phone call and that was a little bit earlier today. And on that call, they explained that they actually told CBS that they could move forward with the James Talarico interview, they just needed to offer me the same time. I didn’t get a request from the Colbert show to continue. As you know, I’ve been on Colbert a few times and, frankly, if we had gotten an offer, it would have been great, but we’re in the middle of early voting. So I’m kind of focused on being in Texas right now. And, you know, I don’t know what to believe, that’s for sure, but I got that phone call while I was talking to voters.”
She continued, “We didn’t have any problems. I mean, we’ve never had any problems with Colbert. And even when you were talking about ‘The View,’ you know, supposedly this FCC complaint arose because I had more time than Mr. Tallarico when I went there, after I had declared my candidacy. So, you know, listen, I’ll tell you that I don’t love Bari Weiss. I don’t love Brendan Carr at all. But I think, since you also mentioned Kimmel, it’s important that we hold out right now. So there was a series of options that could be put on the table and, frankly, you know, ‘The Late Show’ decided that this was the option.
Crockett added: “I mean, look at what happened when they tried to do CECOT. We found out that you could get a lot more views. So I think it probably gave my opponent that ABC was looking for us. So I think it’s probably better that they didn’t get along and they went straight to the broadcast because we know that when we resist and when we know that, it seems like they’re trying to change the rules and bend the knee, or they’ve been the knee to this president, which backfires. Historical fashion.”
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