Trump Threatens Investigation into Chris Christie over Decade-Old Scandal, Calls for Broadcasting License Revocation of ABC News

In a series of posts on his social media platform, former President Donald Trump threatened to investigate Chris Christie over a decade-old political scandal and revoke the broadcasting licenses of ABC News, following an interview where Christie sharply criticized the president.

On ABC’s “This Week,” Christie stated that Trump sees himself as a figure who has the power to make decisions without regard for any separation, going as far as rejecting the idea of separating criminal investigations from the politically elected leader of the United States. The interview aired on Sunday and discussed the FBI’s raid of former national security advisor John Bolton’s home and office earlier that week.

Trump responded to Christie’s remarks hours later, accusing him of lying about the “Bridgegate” scandal in 2013, during which several aides and allies colluded to create traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge as a form of political retribution against a local Democratic mayor. Although Christie was never implicated in the scandal, he has long denied any connection to the conspiracy.

Trump also mocked “This Week” host Jonathan Karl’s physical appearance and the show’s “bad ratings,” before mentioning that ABC News had to settle a defamation suit against him for $16 million last year. In another post, Trump accused both ABC and NBC of giving him 97% negative stories and baselessly called them an arm of the Democratic Party, suggesting they should have their licenses revoked by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Trump further threatened that both networks should “pay up big” for using valuable airwaves or face termination of their journalism. His calls for the FCC to strip the networks of their broadcasting licenses come as the agency, under chair Brendan Carr, has reopened investigations into complaints of media bias against ABC, NBC, and CBS.

Neither Christie nor ABC responded to requests for comment, while NBC declined to do so.