President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to sue ABC over its decision to resume “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”—but while Trump claims that Kimmel’s criticism of the president constitutes unlawful political “contributions,” legal experts contend that’s false, as anything the comedian says on his show is covered by an exemption under campaign finance law.
Trump attacked ABC for its decision to resume Kimmel’s show after suspending it for a week, suggesting on Truth Social he would sue the outlet and writing, “Last time I went after [ABC], they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”
The president suggested he would specifically sue ABC for alleged campaign finance law violations, falsely claiming Kimmel is “yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution.”
But legal experts say that argument is wrong, with campaign finance attorney Brett Kappel telling Forbes Kimmel’s comments are “clearly covered by the ‘media exemption’” in campaign finance law.
While federal campaign finance law broadly bars corporations from making any monetary or non-monetary contributions in order to influence an election, it also carves out what’s known as a “media exemption” or “press exemption,” stating the prohibitions don’t apply regarding “any news story, commentary, or editorial” distributed through a “broadcasting station” or “periodical publication,” as long as it’s not owned by a political...
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