Released documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request expose the extent of FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s collaboration with the White House and right-wing organisations.
The records were secured by the advocacy group Democracy Forward through a FOIA request and a subsequent lawsuit, with findings first reported by the Guardian.
According to the documents, Carr attended at least eight meetings at the White House between 12 March 2025 and 11 February 2026, and had at least three scheduled calls with administration officials.
Those calls included two conversations with chief of staff Susie Wiles, as well as phone contact with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
The files also reveal communications between Carr and producers at Fox News, alongside previously undisclosed meetings with media figures including Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch and Sinclair Broadcast.
The disclosures raise fresh concerns about the independence of the FCC at a time when the agency has pursued policies critics describe as favourable to telecom monopolies and right-wing media interests.
Carr himself drew significant attention last year when, during congressional testimony, he indicated the FCC is no longer an independent agency, a position that was later reflected in the removal of the word from the agency’s own website.
The revelations draw an uncomfortable parallel with a 2014 controversy in which Republicans spent two years claiming the Obama White House had applied improper pressure on the FCC by publicly supporting net neutrality rules.
At that time, organisations including the Hudson Institute voiced strong objections, with the group warning that “the unwelcome assault on the independence of the FCC is a threat not merely to that agency.”
Net neutrality has since been dismantled, with critics pointing to what they describe as corrupt collaboration between Republican officials and large telecommunications companies as a primary driver of its removal.
The documents suggest the boundary between White House political interests and FCC regulatory decision-making has become increasingly difficult to identify under the current administration.
Carr’s tenure has seen the agency pursue actions critics characterise as censorship of journalism, the rollback of consumer protections, and the weakening of media consolidation limits.
The scale of contact between Carr and senior administration figures documented in the FOIA records has intensified debate about whether the FCC retains any meaningful autonomy as a regulatory body.
Democracy Forward’s legal action in securing these records represents one of the more significant transparency efforts directed at the FCC in recent years, shedding light on relationships that had not previously been made public.