President Joe Biden's pick for the Federal Communications Commission has withdrawn her name from consideration after widespread reporting on her anti-conservative, pro-censorship views.
FCC pick Gigi Sohn, whose nomination has floundered in the Senate since Biden first nominated her two years ago, announced the move after Democratic senator Joe Manchin (W.Va.) said he would vote against her. In a statement shared with the Washington Post, Sohn blamed "media industry lobbyists" and "dark money political groups" for forcing her to step aside.
Sohn has a long history of controversy, as the Washington Free Beacon has documented over the years. After the president first nominated her in October 2021, telecommunications experts warned that, as an FCC commissioner, Sohn could use government power against conservative media.
Sohn has questioned whether the government should allow broadcasting licenses for right-leaning networks, calling for the FCC to investigate the networks and singling out Fox News as "propaganda," the Free Beacon reported. If Sohn had become a commissioner, she could have voted on stripping networks of their licenses.
"There's reason for concern she'd take punitive action against conservative voices," one expert told the Free Beacon.
Republicans aren't the only ones to take issue with Sohn. At least two Hispanic groups criticized her nomination, with the president of one suggesting that she may be "racist."
A left-wing media advocacy group attempted to defend the nomination by saying that opposition to Sohn, who is white, is "anti-black," the Free Beacon reported in January.