GOP House Members Don't Voice Support for Sinclair Merger

Less than 24 hours after the president tweeted his dismay with the Federal Communications Commission's refusal to approve the Sinclair Broadcast group's acquisition of Tribune Media, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Congress on Wednesday he "stands by" the decision to not approve the merger.

Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, Pai found no opposition to effectively reject the Sinclair transaction.

In fact, not one committee member from either party voiced support of the president's tweet or for Sinclair's $3.9 proposed merger with Tribune.

Although Pai did not directly reply to a question by Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., about the tenor of Trump's tweet, he did say he had "concerns" about the merger.

In July, the FCC ruled unanimously it was "unable to find, based upon the record before us, that grant of the applications would be consistent with the public interest."

Instead, the commissioners ordered the merger must be decided by an administrative law judge. Such a move is tantamount to a rejection of the deal.

House Democrats who spoke with us made it clear the president's latest salvo on Twitter unnerved them.

"It was totally inappropriate," Rep. Jerry Connelly, D-Va., told us without hesitation. "This was under the complete jurisdiction of a regulatory commission and it was unanimously decided. By tweeting his own opinion, the president undermined his own appointees to the FCC who also unanimously agreed to putting this under the process of judicial review."

Connelly added, under most circumstances, this would be "outrageous," but "in light of everything else that has gone on [during Trump’s presidency], it's just one more outrage."

The Sinclair merger has been opposed by both conservative and liberal groups.

If approved the merger would have created the largest station group in the nation, far exceeding the reach of any other major television network.

Conservatives warned approving Sinclair would have open the door for liberal media networks like NBC, CBS, and ABC to dramatically increase the number of stations they own in critical swing states.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.