Biden FCC Nominee Alarms Republicans

Gigi Sohn

Gigi Sohn, one of President Biden's nominees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is raising alarms among congressional Republicans, who point to her reputation as a hard left partisan. 

Republicans fear that Sohn, who previously led a liberal group called Public Knowledge, would weaponize the agency for political purposes. 

Sohn has called on the FCC to "look at whether" Sinclair Broadcast, which is known as a conservative-leaning company, "is qualified to be a broadcast licensee at all." She ridiculed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh as an "angry white man" during his confirmation hearings. 

She has also donated roughly $30,000 to Democrats over the last two decades, including $6,675 to Obama for America and Obama Victory Fund, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. She also donated almost $5,000 to President Biden’s 2020 campaign and $1,861 to Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential campaign.

"Sohn is a deeply divisive pick with a track record of hard left advocacy," a former FCC official told Fox News. 

"Her public animus towards mainstream conservative outlets renders her unfit to serve as a regulator over the communications industry," the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid professional repercussions. 

"This is a commission that has an enormous amount of power," Phil Kerpen, president of the free market group American Commitment, told Fox News. 

"It's supposed to be a serious, collegial body with sort of impartial expertise and I think when you have someone highly ideological and comes from an advocacy background, even if she otherwise has the appropriate qualifications, it undermines the idea of an expert agency when you have someone who's known as an advocate." 

"Gigi Sohn is a complete political ideologue who has disdain for conservatives. She would be a complete nightmare for the country when it comes to regulating the public airwaves," Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote on Twitter this week.