Jasmine Crockett pushes back on Texas opponent's claim Trump FCC killed interview, puts blame on CBS

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, commented Tuesday on the situation with CBS and Stephen Colbert's show not airing the late-night host's interview with James Talarico, her opponent in the Texas Democratic Senate primary.

MS NOW host Jen Paski asked Crockett to respond to CBS' statement on the controversy, which named the Texas lawmaker. The network denied that it prohibited Colbert from airing the interview, adding that the show was provided with "legal guidance" that it could trigger the equal time rule for Crockett and the other candidate in the race, Ahmad Hassan. 

"We actually received a phone call, and that was a little bit earlier today, and in that call, they explained that they actually told CBS that they could go ahead and move forward with the interview of James Talarico, they just needed to offer me equal time," Crockett said. "I did not get a request from the Colbert show to go on."

"As you know, I've been on Colbert multiple times, and frankly, if we would have gotten an offer, that would have been great," she continued. "But, we're in the middle of early voting, so I'm kind of focused on being in Texas at this moment. And, you know, I don't know what to believe, that's for sure. But I got that phone call as I was out talking to voters."

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"I will tell you that I have no love for Bari Weiss, I have no love for Brendan Carr whatsoever. But I do think that, as you also mentioned — Kimmel — it is important that we resist in this moment," Crockett said.

The Talarico interview was ultimately posted on YouTube and not aired on CBS, which Crockett agreed with. 

"And so there were a number of options that could be put on the table and frankly, you know, ‘The Late Show’ decided that this was the option and I think that it was a good strategy," she said. 

The lawmaker even suggested that the controversy probably helped Talarico's campaign. 

"I think it probably gave my opponent the boost he was looking for. So I think it's probably better that he didn't get on, and that they went straight to streaming because we know that when we resist, and when we know that it seems like they're trying to change the rules and bend the knee to this president, that it backfires in historic fashion," she said.

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Crockett told The Hill earlier in the day that the federal government did not shut down the interview.

"We did receive information suggesting that the federal government did not shut down this segment, number one, that is my understanding, that the federal government didn't shut this down. And we will do an official statement once we get another official statement that we anticipate is going to be coming from Paramount, alright, so we will read what they say, we will go from there," she said.

Crockett said Colbert or CBS decided not to air the interview because of a "fear" that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was going to object, "and that there may have been advice to just have me on, and they can clear the issue."

"It is my understanding that someone, somewhere decided we just don't want to do that," she said before clarifying that she had no "love" for the current FCC, but said there were layers to the story.

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Talarico blamed the situation on President Donald Trump and the FCC in a post to X.

"This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see. His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert. Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas," he wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to the FCC for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

Talarico's team also revealed on X on Wednesday that his team raised $2.5 million after "the FCC banned our Colbert interview."

Colbert slammed CBS' denial that it prohibited him from airing the interview during his Tuesday show, and said he "obeyed" his bosses.

"So, we obeyed our network and put the interview on YouTube, where it’s gotten millions of views. And I can see why. Talarico’s an interesting guy. I don’t know if he should be the senator, but it was a good discussion. I wish we could have put it on the show, where no one would have watched it," he said.