Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The Briefing,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said CBS should not have bent the knee to the Trump administration by telling “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert they would not air his Monday interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico because of the Federal Communications Commission equal time rule.
Host Jen Psaki said, “In CBS’s statement on what happened with Colbert Show last night, they name checked you. I mean, they said this the show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal time rule for two other candidates, including Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. What do you make of that explanation?”
Crockett said, “We actually received a phone call and, that was a little bit earlier today. And in that call, they explained that they actually told CBS that they could go ahead and move forward with the interview of James Talarico, they just needed to offer me equal time. I did not get a request from the Colbert show to go on. As you know, I’ve been on Colbert multiple times, and frankly if we would have gotten an offer, that would have been great but we’re in the middle of early voting, so I’m kind of focused on being in Texas at this moment. And, you know, I don’t know what to believe, that’s for sure but I got that phone call as I was out talking to voters.”
She continued, “We didn’t have an issue. I mean, we’ve never run into an issue with Colbert. And even as you talked about ‘The View,’ you know, supposedly this FCC complaint came about because I had more time than Mr. Tallarico when I went on there, after I had declared my candidacy. So, you know, listen, I will tell you that, I have no love for Bari Weiss. I have no love for Brendan Carr whatsoever. But I do think that, as you also mentioned Kimmel, it is important that we resist in this moment. And so there were a number of options that could be put on the table. And frankly, you know, ‘The Late Show’ decided that this was the option. And I think that it was a good strategy.”
Crockett added, “I mean, look at what happened when they tried to CECOT. We found out that you could get a lot more views. So I think it probably gave my opponent the ABC was looking for us. So I think it’s probably better that he didn’t get on, and that they went straight to streaming because, we know that when we resist and when we know that, it seems like, they’re trying to change the rules and bend to the knee, or been the knee to this president that it backfires in, historic fashion.”
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