A Look At Trump's Second-Term Media Fights, Including Jimmy Kimmel

US President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump's combative relationship with American media outlets has sparked numerous legal conflicts and controversies, with the recent ABC suspension and subsequent reinstatement of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" being the latest example.

Trump expressed satisfaction over Kimmel's temporary suspension, describing it as "great news for America." The veteran comedian, known for his critical stance on Trump's administration, was pulled off air following a monologue that referenced the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and compared Trump's response to "how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish."

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, appointed by Trump, claimed the agency had strong grounds to hold Kimmel, ABC, and parent company Walt Disney Co. responsible for spreading misinformation.

By Monday, ABC announced the show would resume on Tuesday. However, major ABC affiliate owners Nexstar and Sinclair declared they would not broadcast Kimmel's show on their stations.

Below is an examination of Trump's significant media confrontations during his second term:

ABC explained that their decision to bring back the show followed "thoughtful conversations" with Kimmel, who has hosted his ABC show since 2003.

On Tuesday, Kimmel broke his silence with an Instagram post featuring himself alongside late television producer and free speech advocate Norman Lear, writing, "Missing this guy today."

Andrew Kolvet, spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Kirk, stated on X: "Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it's their mistake to make."

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced it would continue to keep Kimmel off its stations while maintaining discussions with ABC. Nexstar Media Group indicated it sought "assurances that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve."

News of Kimmel's reinstatement came after hundreds of entertainment industry professionals signed an ACLU open letter on Monday declaring it "a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation."

A federal judge in Florida dismissed Trump's $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. Judge Steven Merryday ruled that Trump's complaint was excessively lengthy and contained "tedious and burdensome" language irrelevant to the legal case.

"A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally," Merryday wrote. "This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner."

The judge gave Trump 28 days to submit an amended complaint not exceeding 40 pages.

The lawsuit targeted four Times journalists, a book, and three articles published shortly before the 2024 presidential election.

The book and an article by Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig examined Trump's finances and his pre-presidency role on "The Apprentice."

Trump also cited an October 20 article by Peter Baker titled "For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment" and a piece by Michael S. Schmidt featuring an interview with Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, headlined "As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator."

The Times has dismissed the lawsuit as meritless and an attempt to suppress independent reporting.

Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media executive Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp owns the publication. This occurred one day after the Journal published an article about Trump's connections to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The article described a sexually suggestive letter allegedly bearing Trump's name that was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday.

The Justice Department had previously requested a federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in Epstein's sex trafficking case. The Trump administration had announced it would not release additional files from the case.

CBS announced the cancellation of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" effective next May. Colbert is one of Trump's most vocal late-night critics. CBS claimed "Late Show" was canceled for financial reasons, not content. However, the announcement came just three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between Trump and CBS parent company Paramount Global regarding a "60 Minutes" story.

Paramount Global agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit concerning the editing of a CBS "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October. At that time, Harris was the Democratic presidential candidate.

Trump's legal team claimed he experienced "mental anguish" following the interview and sued for $20 billion. The company sought to resolve the issue while seeking administration approval for a merger. Paramount, CBS's owner, stated the settlement money would fund Trump's future presidential library and cover his legal expenses.

Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing public funding for PBS and NPR, citing alleged "bias" in their reporting. His order instructed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies "to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS" and required them to identify and eliminate indirect sources of public financing for these news organizations.

Later that month, NPR and three local stations sued Trump, arguing that the order violated their free speech rights and exceeded his authority. This summer, Congress approved eliminating $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting.

Trump decided to remove the Associated Press from the White House press pool. This meant AP journalists lost access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other events not open to the full press corps. The action came in response to AP's refusal to adopt Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in all instances.

The AP Stylebook maintains that the body of water should be referred to by its original name while acknowledging Trump's chosen name. AP's rationale is that it distributes news globally and must ensure place names remain recognizable to all audiences.

The wire service subsequently sued Trump, and a district court ruled in AP's favor in April, affirming on First Amendment grounds that the government cannot penalize a news organization for its content. A federal appeals court stayed that decision in June.

ABC News agreed to contribute $15 million toward Trump's presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos' inaccurate on-air statement that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. The network also agreed to pay $1 million in legal fees.

The settlement agreement described ABC's presidential library payment as a "charitable contribution."

Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in a Miami federal court in March 2024 after the network aired a segment in which Stephanopoulos repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll's two civil lawsuits against Trump. Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.