2026年11月10日，华盛顿特区，丹妮尔·图曼。照片：Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images 参议员向丹妮尔·图曼施压，要求她就联邦通信委员会针对ABC和吉米·坎梅尔的行动发表意见。在周二一场争议性听证会上，参议院民主党人就唐纳德·特朗普提名她担任联邦通信委员会（FCC）委员一事，对丹妮尔·图曼进行了追问，内容涉及由布伦丹·卡领导的监管机构最近采取的、被批评为对新闻自由不利的行动。
Danielle Thumann on 10 November 2026 in Washington, DC. Photograph: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images Senators pressured Danielle Thumann, senior counsel to FCC chair Brendan Carr, to speak about agency’s actions toward ABC and Jimmy Kimmel During a contentious Tuesday hearing on her nomination by Donald Trump to serve as a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner, Senate Democrats hammered Danielle Thumann about recent actions taken by the Brendan Carr-led regulator that have been criticized as hostile to press freedom.
图曼担任卡的高级法律顾问，预计将获批准担任委员，因为共和党控制着美国参议院和众议院。但新墨西哥州参议员本·雷·卢汉向她保证，当民主党在明年1月掌控参议院时，委员会的行动将受到密切审查。
Thumann, who serves as senior counsel to Carr, is expected to be approved as commissioner, with Republicans in charge of the US Senate and House. But Ben Ray Luján, a senator of New Mexico, assured her that the commission’s actions will be under close scrutiny when Democrats take charge of the chamber in January.
卢汉多次询问图曼，她是否同意卡领导下的FCC采取的行动，包括4月下旬一项近乎史无前例的命令，要求ABC提前申请续期其地方电视台执照。这一举动紧随特朗普总统和第一夫人梅拉尼娅·特朗普对该网络最大明星之一、深夜主持人吉米·坎梅尔的批评之后。卡还被指控在去年秋天向ABC附属电视台施压，要求其下架坎梅尔的节目。
Luján asked Thumann repeatedly whether she agrees with actions taken by Carr’s FCC, including a nearly unprecedented order in late April forcing ABC to apply early to renew its local station licenses, a move that immediately followed criticism of one of the network’s biggest stars, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel by the president and Melania Trump, the first lady. Carr was also accused of pressuring ABC affiliates to drop Kimmel’s show the previous fall.
“你是否支持卡主席非法运动，将吉米·坎梅尔从全国电视波中移除？”卢汉问道。
“Do you support Chairman Carr’s illegal campaign to remove Jimmy Kimmel from the nation’s airways?”Luján asked.
“我没有与主席就任何媒体相关问题合作，也不熟悉有关对其执照调查或提前续期执照的所有细节，”图曼回应说。“我也没有参与过任何关于其任何做法或关于吉米·坎梅尔的谈话。”卢汉迫图曼说出她与卡意见不一致的问题，但她回避了。他还问她，FCC“提前续期迪士尼广播执照”是否“合适”。
“I have not worked with the chairman on any media-related issues, and I’m not familiar with all of the details regarding the investigation of or the early license renewal of their licenses,” Thumann responded. “And I haven’t been involved in any of those conversations regarding any of their practices or regarding Jimmy Kimmel.”Luján pressed Thumann to name an issue she has disagreed with Carr on, and she demurred. He also asked her whether it was “appropriate for the FCC to call up Disney’s broadcast license for early renewal”.
卢汉的几位民主党同事也轮番就联邦通信委员会对电视网络的行动向图曼施压，马萨诸塞州参议员埃德·马基就“卡主席的联邦通信委员会审查议程”盘问她。“图曼女士，联邦通信委员会是否有权因为总统不同意其新闻报道而惩罚广播公司？”
Several of Luján’s Democratic colleagues also took turns pressuring Thumann on the FCC’s actions toward television networks, with Ed Markey, the Massachusetts senator, grilling her on “Chairman Carr’s FCC censorship agenda”. “Ms Thumann, does the FCC have the authority to punish a broadcaster because the president disagrees with its news coverage?”
马基对她的回答提出反驳，说道：“再次强调，这本应是一项明确的宪法限制，因为联邦通信委员会不能仅仅因为总统不喜欢其报道就惩罚广播公司。然而，卡主席，您现在的上司，却威胁要做正好相反的事。”
Pushing back on her response, Markey said: “Again, this should be a straightforward constitutional limitation, because the FCC cannot punish a broadcaster simply because the president doesn’t like his coverage. Yet Chairman Carr, your boss right now, has threatened to do exactly that.”
马基指责她选择“回避”他的问题，并表示：“任何寻求联邦通信委员会席位的人都必须愿意抵制此类威胁并捍卫第一修正案，而您在此次确认听证会上并不愿意这样做。”
Markey accused her of choosing to “evade” his questions, saying that “anyone seeking a seat on the Federal Communications Commission must be willing to stand up to such threats and to defend the first amendment, and you are not willing to do so here in your confirmation hearing.”
参议员塔米·达克沃思也询问图曼，她是否会屈服于政治压力，惩罚不受欢迎的网络。图曼表示，委员会必须处理针对其监管网络的投诉，但她承认，“广播公司的编辑决策受到第一修正案的保护”，并补充说：“我认为关于电视台执照的决定不应纯粹基于某人对所播出内容的不满。”几位参议院民主党人表示，商务委员会举行这次确认听证会不合适，如果共和党打算提名另一名本党成员进入委员会，他们应遵循过去的惯例，同时提名一名民主党人。
Senator Tammy Duckworth also asked Thumann about whether she would yield to political pressure to punish disfavored networks. While Thumann said the commission has to deal with complaints against networks it regulates, she acknowledged that “editorial decision-making is protected by the first amendment for broadcasters”, and added: “I don’t think that a decision [about a station’s license] should be based purely on someone’s discontent with the content that’s being aired.”Several Senate Democrats said it was inappropriate for the commerce committee to hold the confirmation hearing, and that if Republicans were going to nominate another member of the party to the commission, they should follow past precedent and nominate a Democrat as well.
联邦通信委员会目前有一名由民主党总统提名的委员安娜·M·戈麦斯，但她的任期从技术上讲已经到期。
The FCC currently has one commissioner nominated by a Democratic president, Anna M Gomez, but her term has already technically expired.
听证会结束时，卢汉向卡尔发出警告。“卡尔先生，如果你现在在听，要知道你每个月至少要来这个机构一次，甚至更多，还要去众议院回答问题，你不再拥有议事槌的保护了，”他说。“你必须回应传票，这样我们才能查清那些胡说八道和掩盖真相的行为。”
At the end of the hearing, Luján issued a warning to Carr. “Mr Carr, if you’re listening now, know you’re going to be in this body once a month, if not more, and in the House of Representatives as well, answering questions, and you don’t have the protection of the gavel any longer,” he said. “Subpoena authorities that you have to respond to so we can get to the bottom of the nonsense and the cover-ups that have been taking place.”