The chair has also disavowed the idea that the FCC is an independent agency that should be free from White House direction, breaking from the tradition followed by Trump’s first-term FCC chair and agency leaders of both parties for decades. A Supreme Court ruling last month upheld Trump’s powers to fire leaders on these agencies, which many believe will erode their independence.

Democrats were quick to dismiss Trump’s latest calls.

“It is ridiculous to call for broadcasters to lose their license simply for making the same editorial decisions they’ve made under presidents of both parties,” Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, said in a statement Friday. “Those editorial decisions are protected by the First Amendment, and the FCC has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech. This is a naked attempt to bully broadcasters, and the FCC should have no part in it.”

Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce telecom subcommittee, voiced concern given Carr’s recent media investigations.

“Given Chairman Carr’s record of entertaining politically motivated complaints against broadcasters, President Trump’s threats to revoke broadcast licenses must be taken seriously and rejected,” Matsui told POLITICO. “Chairman Carr should make clear that he will not act on those threats or allow the FCC to be used as a weapon for political retribution.”

Carr’s spokespeople did not respond to a separate request for comment about Matsui’s statement. Carr has maintained he is applying the law impartially.

The FCC chief ignited bipartisan concern when he first hauled in Disney’s eight lucrative ABC TV stations for review this spring, years ahead of schedule. None were due to expire until 2028 at the earliest. He attributed the decision to a long-running diversity investigation, although critics questioned the timing, given Trump’s recent ire at hosts like Jimmy Kimmel.

The TV network has aggressively fought Carr’s probes and asked its viewers and community leaders to contact the agency voicing support for the company, resulting in tens of thousands of comments pouring in in recent weeks. While license revocation is on the table, it may be a long way off. ABC will have a chance to respond to the recent conservative petitions to deny its licenses by Aug. 5, and then Carr will have to decide whether to send the issue to an administrative hearing. Carr could decide to bring the NBC-owned station licenses in for early review, too.

Stuart Benjamin, co-director of the Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law School, ultimately doubts courts would side with Carr if he attempts to go after the licenses, whether he injects Trump’s complaints into the proceedings or not.

“I would think the documents will go in as lawyerly a direction as he can, even though we’ll all know the real source of this,” Benjamin said. “And I think that a judge who reviews it won’t have much doubt about that.”