Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is demanding answers from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for allowing billionaire George Soros, known for writing massive checks to Democrat candidates and funding a network of leftist dark money organizations under the disguise of his "Open Society Foundations,” to purchase hundreds of radio stations just weeks before Election Day.
In a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Cotton said he believes the FCC rushed the approval of Soros’ purchases, which “raises significant concerns about the FCC’s process, its political impartiality, and the risks to our national security.”
The FCC bypassed a national security review and approved Soros's purchase of 200 Audacy radio stations across 40 U.S. markets—a move that has never been done before. This means the Democrat megadonor will be able to reach more than 165 million Americans as they begin to cast their votes.
Cotton wrote that the purchase will affect more than “165 million monthly listeners on Audacy – a network that includes conservative programming like Sean Hannity, Dana Loesch, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, and Erick Erickson.”
“It would be naive to think the timing is coincidental, or that a Soros-funded network would impartially manage conservative talk shows in the weeks before the election,” Cotton wrote, adding, “The FCC reportedly attempted to approve the SFM transaction with only 48 hours notice.”
The senator gave Rosenworcel until October 24— just days before the election— to answer his questions.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) also wrote a letter to Rosenworcel requesting documents and communications regarding Soro’s purchase to understand it better. They warned that if Soros were to buy out the radio company, its airwaves would be "directly or indirectly controlled" by "foreign individuals or entities holding more than one-fourth of the capital stock."
The Republicans accused Soros of "advocating for speech restriction and censorship of conservatives online."