FCC to Deliver Findings of George Soros Investigation

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is expected to provide an update on the agency’s investigation into George Soros and his influence over local radio stations to Republican lawmakers Wednesday.

Members of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of 175 House Republicans, will host Carr at their annual closed-door lunch Wednesday, Fox News reported.

A source told the outlet that Carr is slated to brief lawmakers on the influence that Soros exercises over the local radio stations, since the longtime progressive financier has ties to an investment bank that purchased over 200 Audacy radio stations nationwide last year.

Carr is also expected to address wider tactics to oppose left-wing media.

The recent purchase of the radio stations has indeed drawn the attention of senior Republicans.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, said in September that he and Rep. Nick Langworthy, a Republican from New York, would probe the FCC under the Biden administration for “taking unprecedented action” to let Soros Fund Management take a major stake in Audacy.

The investment entity has a substantial share of foreign ownership, prompting Carr to testify against the deal before the House Oversight Committee.

“The FCC is not following its normal process for reviewing a transaction,” he told lawmakers at that time.

“We have established over a number of years one way in which you can get approval from the FCC when you have an excess of 25 percent foreign ownership, which this transaction does,” Carr added.

“It seems to me that the FCC is poised to create, for the first time, an entirely new shortcut.”

Members of the House Oversight Committee wrote in a letter to now-former FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel that “by all appearances, the FCC majority isn’t just expediting, but is bypassing an established process to do a favor for George Soros.”

The move would “facilitate his influence over hundreds of radio stations before the November election.”

Other Republicans were similarly critical of the move.

Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy previously wrote another letter to Rosenworcel raising concerns about the transaction.

“I write today regarding Soros Fund Management’s acquisition of over $400 million in debt held by Audacy — the second-largest broadcast radio station owner in the country,” Roy said in the April 2024 letter, according to The Dallas Express.

“Of particular concern, the Soros groups are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve a change in ownership in Audacy without the FCC running its normal, statutorily required process.”

Roy added that the “Soros group says that skipping the foreign ownership review at this time will enable the FCC to expedite its approval of the Soros applications and thus allow them to more quickly realize their ownership interests in, and take the reins at, these hundreds of local radio stations across the country.”