Brendan Carr

Brendan Thomas Carr (born January 5, 1979) is an American lawyer who has served as the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since 2025. He has additionally served as a commissioner of the FCC since 2017. Carr studied government at Georgetown University and graduated from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America in 2005. He worked in private practice before joining the FCC in 2012 as an attorney and becoming an advisor to Commissioner Ajit Pai in 2014. After Pai became the commission's chair in January 2017, Carr was appointed its general counsel. In June 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Carr to serve as a commissioner of the FCC. As commissioner, Carr initially focused on networks, although he began criticizing social media companies and China over perceived authoritarian policies later in his first term. He was involved in the development of Project 2025 and authored a section of the Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership (2023). In November 2024, president-elect Trump named Carr as his chair of the FCC. He took office following Trump's second inauguration. As chair, Carr investigated companies over their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, threatening to block business decisions if organizational hiring practices were not changed. He was involved in the merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global, securing an ombudsman to ensure different perspectives; Carr's role in the merger led to ethics concerns. Carr has sought to implement or broaden the FCC mandate to ensure public-interest programming, particularly in countering a perceived liberal bias in broadcasts. In September, Carr threatened broadcasters to suspend the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, leading to broad criticism.