WASHINGTON, DC – After a year and half of educating policymakers and thought leaders, as well as the American public about President Joe Biden’s FCC nominee, Gigi Sohn, the American Accountability Foundation is very pleased that she has withdrawn her nomination.
AAF ran hundreds of thousands of dollars in billboards, newspaper ads, and digital advertise to educate the American people how wrong she was for the position. We are glad the message got through.
“The FCC needs an independent non-partisan nominee and that wasn’t Gigi Sohn. She exposed herself, again and again, to be a radical, extremist, hyper-partisan, with serious ethical questions looming over her nomination,” said AAF President Thomas Jones.
As the Fraternal Order of Police has made clear, Sohn’s “social media, public policy stances, and employment history has indicated serious animus towards law enforcement officers and the rule of law.” Outside of her anti-police rhetoric, Sohn has previously called the digital divide “a vestige of systemic racism and tends to racialize issues.”
According to the National Association of Police Organizations, “Ms. Sohn has a significant record of supporting anti-law enforcement statements on social media. In July of 2020, for example, during the riots in Portland, Oregon, she retweeted a tweet criticizing federal law enforcement officers as “armed goons in riot gear with tear gas” while defending rioters who carried gas masks and shields. Further, over the past several years, she has retweeted tweets calling for the ‘defunding of police’. This shows an anti-police bias that should disqualify her as an official in the federal government.”
According to the National Sheriff’s Association, “Law enforcement officers across the country risk their lives every day to protect and serve our communities… They deserve the support of senior officials in the federal government who help to set policy. Unfortunately, Ms. Sohn has failed to provide such support by using social media to promote alarming statements that denigrate law enforcement.”
In addition, Sohn statements about conservative outlets such as Fox News are extremely concerning, given the enormous power over television she would have on the FCC. The American people deserve honest, reasonable, and open-minded men and women to serve in government, not radical extremists. We at AAF will continue to carefully watch the Biden administration, and ensure that only highly qualified and honorable individuals are given important government appointments.
The American Accountability Foundation is a non-profit government oversight and research organization that uses investigative tools to educate the public on issues related to personnel, policy, and spending. AAF deploys aggressive research and investigations to advance conservative messaging, rapid response, and Congressional investigations, while heavily scrutinizing politicians and establishment organizations, policies, and projects.
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