US President-elect Donald Trump appoints Brendan Carr as FCC chairman

Washington: Commissioner Brendan Carr was appointed Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday. In all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories, the FCC oversees interstate and international communications by wire, satellite, cable, television, and radio. The Commission is the federal agency in charge of carrying out and upholding America’s communications laws and regulations. It is an independent US government organization that is supervised by Congress.

Thank you, President Trump! Carr shared a post on X. Being the Chairman of the FCC is an honor and a source of humility. We now begin our efforts in the United States.

“I am pleased to announce that Commissioner Brendan Carr will be Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),” Trump stated in a statement released on Sunday. The senior Republican on the FCC at the moment is Commissioner Carr. He was the General Counsel of the FCC prior to that. Since my first nomination of Commissioner Carr to the FCC in 2017, the US Senate has unanimously approved him three times.

The press release said, “His current term runs through 2029 and, because of his great work, I will now be designating him as permanent Chairman.”

Trump’s statement went on to refer to Carr as a “warrior for Free Speech.” “A champion of free speech, Commissioner Carr has battled against the regulatory lawfare that has impeded our economy and restricted Americans’ freedoms. He would make sure that the FCC serves rural America and put a stop to the regulatory assault that has been strangling America’s innovators and job creators. Chairman Brendan Carr deserves congratulations for his excellent work. “Brendan, lead us into a great future!” the message said.

Notably, Carr joined the FCC in 2012 and previously advised Ajit Pai, the FCC’s then-chairman. Commissioner Carr was an attorney with a focus on appellate, litigation, and regulatory concerns earlier in his career.

Commissioner Carr formerly served as Judge Dennis Shedd’s clerk on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Commissioner Carr received his JD Magna Cum Laude from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America, where he was an Editor of the Catholic University Law Review, after completing his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University.

In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump defeated Democratic opponent Kamala Harris with 295 electoral votes, earning him a second term as president of the United States. President-elect Donald Trump has acted quickly after winning to assemble his national security and foreign policy staff in preparation for his official inauguration in January 2025.