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 during a meeting with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday.
According to Fox News, Carr will meet with members of the Republican Study Committee, a group of 175 House Republicans, at their annual closed-door lunch.
A source told the outlet that Carr is set to brief lawmakers on Soros’s influence over local radio stations, particularly in light of his ties to an investment firm that purchased over 200 Audacy radio stations nationwide last year.
Carr is also expected to discuss broader strategies to counter left-wing media, the report said.
The recent acquisition of the radio stations has garnered significant attention from senior Republicans. In September, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) announced plans to investigate the FCC under the Biden administration for allowing Soros Fund Management to take a major stake in Audacy.
The investment firm holds a substantial share of foreign ownership, which prompted Carr to testify before the House Oversight Committee, expressing concerns about the deal.
“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 said 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 have also voiced criticism of the move.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) previously sent a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, expressing concerns about the transaction and its implications.
“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 went on to write 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.”
Just ahead of the November election, the Biden-era FCC expedited its decision to approve a deal allowing Democrat megadonor Soros to acquire a significant stake in over 200 radio stations.
The agency “adopted an order to approve Soros’ purchase of more than 200 radio stations in 40 markets just weeks before the presidential election,” which would allow him to reach up to 165 million Americans, the Oversight committee stated.
Soros is seeking to acquire $415 million in debt in a Chapter 11 reorganization of the company, Fox reported.
Comer and Langworthy warned that Soros is a financier of organizations “advocating for speech restriction and censorship of conservatives online.” They added: “He will ultimately become a ‘major’ shareholder when the bankruptcy deal concludes.”
The two Republican lawmakers also warned that Soros has “sought to consolidate control over the airwaves.”