James Talarico declared that the drama surrounding his allegedly pulled “Late Present” interview must be “troubling” for all People, blasting it as an assault on the First Modification.
The Texas state consultant, who’s operating for a U.S. senate seat, addressed the controversy tied to his interview with Stephen Colbert on MS NOW’s “The Final Phrase,” the place he confessed that the scenario felt like “déjà vu” given his previous FCC drama.
“We had simply gone via this with ‘The View,’” Talarico instructed host Lawrence O’Donnell. “Trump’s FCC launched an investigation into ‘The View’ after I appeared on that program. So, to have that occur once more, it simply felt like a foul re-run.”
He continued: “It must be troubling to all of us, no matter our political affiliations or our political views, that essentially the most highly effective folks within the nation, essentially the most highly effective politicians and essentially the most highly effective company executives are working collectively to promote out the First Modification, to promote out our freedom of speech, with a view to defend their very own energy and their very own wealth.”
As Talarico continued, he reiterated that the scenario “must be regarding” for each Democrats and Republicans, including, “An assault on any certainly one of our First Modification rights is an assault on all of our First Modification rights.”
Talarico’s feedback come after Colbert claimed throughout Monday’s episode of “The Late Present” that he was pressured by CBS legal professionals to not broadcast his dialogue with the U.S. senate candidate out of concern for FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s enforcement of the equal-time rule. He as a substitute selected to add the interview on the late present’s YouTube web page.
Talarico: It must be troubling to all of us, no matter our political affiliations or our political views, that essentially the most highly effective folks within the nation, essentially the most highly effective politicians and essentially the most highly effective company executives are working collectively to promote out the primary… pic.twitter.com/b6gtsEkn3M
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 18, 2026
CBS responded to Colbert’s claims on Tuesday, noting in an announcement, “‘The Late Present’ was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The present was supplied authorized steering that the printed might set off the FCC equal-time rule for 2 different candidates, together with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and offered choices for a way the equal time for different candidates might be fulfilled. ‘The Late Present’ determined to current the interview via its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the printed moderately than doubtlessly offering the equal-time choices.”
The transfer to YouTube proved to be a profitable one for Colbert and Talarico, given their dialogue garnered 3 million views in simply 18 hours.
Crockett even weighed in on the success of Talarico’s on-line unique with Colbert, noting on “The Briefing With Jen Psaki” that it gave her opponent “the increase he was searching for.”
She added: “So, I feel it’s in all probability higher that he didn’t get on and that they went straight to streaming.”
“The Final Phrase” airs weeknights at 10 p.m. ET on MS NOW.
