Huffman Leads Lawmakers Decrying FCC Commissioner Misusing Official Position to Advance Project 2025

Members of Congress Call for Ethics Investigation into Commissioner Brendan Carr’s Involvement in Crafting FCC Chapter of Project 2025

July 17, 2024

Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02), founder of the Stop Project 2025 Task Force, along with 15 of his colleagues, sent a letter to the Inspector General of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Office of Special Counsel, and the Office of Government Ethics decrying FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr for crafting part of Project 2025 in his official capacity as an executive-level employee of the federal government. The lawmakers also called on the administration to urgently to investigate Commissioner Carr’s involvement and make a determination as to whether he complied with the Hatch Act and other federal ethics laws and regulations.

Led by the Heritage Foundation, a network of former Trump officials and conservative organizations developed Project 2025 with the self-declared “goal of shaping policy decisions among presidential candidates.” Senior Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, whom Trump originally appointed to the agency in 2017, wrote an entire chapter of the report calling for dramatic changes to his own agency, including notably calling for enlisting the FCC into the Republican battle against Section 230, which protects digital platforms from lawsuits over user-generated content. Carr has long advocated for modifying the law on the grounds that social media companies are disproportionately “censoring” conservative viewpoints.

“Given the close ties between Project 2025, Trump, and his re-election campaign, it is deeply troubling that Commissioner Carr would use his official title and position to author part of the political playbook for a Republican presidential candidate,” the lawmakers wrote. “This potential misuse of title raises serious questions about Commissioner Carr’s commitment to keeping his private political activities separate from his official duties. Therefore, we ask the relevant authorities to determine to what extent Commissioner Carr violated the Misuse of Position Rule or leveraged his government office in other ways to enhance his personal standing or advance the private and political interests of Project 2025.”

The members also requested the agencies coordinate with the Department of Justice to preserve the ability to prosecute any criminal Hatch Act violations and to immediately notify Congress and relevant authorities if additional evidence of misconduct is uncovered during the investigation.

Project 2025 is a detailed roadmap for a conservative presidential administration to consolidate power in the presidency and gut federal checks and balances, strip individual freedoms, and effectively end democracy. In June, Congressman Huffman founded the Stop Project 2025 Task Force which serves as a central hub for pro-democracy Members of Congress, civil society, and affected communities to coordinate on examining, highlighting, preempting, and counteracting this rightwing plot to undermine democracy.

In addition to Rep. Huffman, the letter was signed by Representatives Ted Lieu (CA-36), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Sean Casten (IL-06), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-01), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Judy Chu (CA-28), and Jamie Raskin (MD-08).

For a full copy of the letter, click here.

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