FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s threat to ABC that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way” regarding Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was actually a joke, JD Vance insisted.

Carr has tried to distance himself as a factor in parent company Disney temporarily pulling Kimmel’s show off the air, claiming it was somehow the Democrats’ fault. Vance similarly attempted to reframe the issue on Wednesday by claiming Carr—a Project 2025 architect—didn’t mean what he said, despite him giving no such indication at the time.

“What people will say is, ‘Didn’t the FCC commissioner put a tweet out that said something bad?’” Vance said Wednesday after a reporter questioned the administration’s shifting approach to free speech issues.

“Well, compare that—the FCC commissioner making a joke on social media

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