Ted Cruz Exposes Biden FCC Nominee Cutting Checks to 12 Senators Voting on Her Nomination

By John McCann February 15, 2023 at 3:07pm

President Biden’s pick to sit on the Federal Communications Committee is facing heavy pushback to her nomination due to questions about her ethics.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas grilled Biden’s pick, Gigi Sohn, about giving donations to Democrat senators while her nomination was pending, as well as sweetheart agreements she allegedly took part in

During the third round of hearings regarding Sohn’s nomination, Cruz ask the potential FCC commissioner if she thought it was proper and ethical to give money to politicians who had a say in whether she got the position.

Gigi Sohn gave 12 separate political donations to Senators who will potentially vote to confirm her.

She sees no issue with this.

This shows her true character. pic.twitter.com/DufOTL7FXw

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) February 14, 2023

“I have been in the Senate 10 years, I have never seen a nominee make contributions to senators while your nomination is pending,” Cruz told her.

“You managed to cover the waterboard of Democrats running for office.”

Cruz pointed out that Sohn had given money to 12 Democrat senators when they were running for office.

When asked by the Texas senator whether she believed it was “poor judgment” to make such contributions, Sohn defended her actions.

“Senator, I’m a citizen who just wanted to participate in the democratic process, the answer is no,” Sohn replied.

Should Gigi Sohn be confirmed to the FCC?

Regarding the sweetheart deal issue, Cruz accused Sohn of misleading the Senate Commerce Committee.

Gigi Sohn lied when she didn’t disclose the details of a sweetheart deal that reduced a fine from $32M to $700k

Last I checked the Senate and the President aren’t the media or the press.

Why was she hiding details from the federal government? pic.twitter.com/uK3mY7e3tX

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) February 14, 2023

This alleged deal took place during Sohn’s time at Locast, a non-profit streaming service that is now defunct, according to the Hill.

Using her legal expertise, Sohn settled a lawsuit that argued that Locast was infringing on television copyrights.

The settlement included an alleged sweetheart deal, in which a $32 million dollar fine was reduced to a mere $700,000, a point Cruz emphasized.

“You had an obligation to answer this body accurately and you did not,” Cruz told the nominee.

Sohn did not disclose the deal to the Senate during her first hearing and didn’t even inform the White House of it until shortly after she signed off on it and was nominated.

Sohn argued that she was unable to divulge the information because she was “bound by the confidentiality agreement of the settlement.”

Cruz was quick to correct the record that she was not, as she was only barred from speaking “to the media or the press” on the matter.

“The last I checked, the United States Senate is not the media or the press … I would note the White House is not the media or the press,” Cruz admonished.

According to the Hill, Sohn’s past statements regarding censorship of conservatives and right-wing media have also fallen under the spotlight.

“Ms. Sohn portrays herself as a defender of free speech but has a history of campaigning to censor conservatives. She calls Fox News ‘dangerous to our democracy’ and has urged the FCC to revoke Sinclair’s broadcast licenses,” Cruz said.

“To Ms. Sohn it seems that conservative speech is worse than obscenity.”

Democrats, including Commerce chair Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, are hoping to finally confirm Sohn to the currently partisan-gridlocked FCC.

“It’s been 755 days that we don’t have a fully functioning FCC. … With each additional day, more ink is spilled over this nomination. Frankly, we get more deliberate attempts to extend this vacancy for as long as possible,” Lujan said.

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