Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr admitted that he sees President Donald Trump as his boss, during a congressional hearing Wednesday, and refused to say that it would be wrong to do the president’s bidding as the chairman of what is supposed to be an independent agency.

Senator Andy Kim came at Carr with a targeted line of questioning about the FCC’s independence. Carr claimed that, contrary to what he had himself said to Congress in the past, the FCC isn’t technically independent because it isn’t protected from for-cause removal, meaning the president can fire FCC commissioners whenever he wants.

Kim followed up: “I’m just trying to get a sense from you: If you don’t think that the FCC is independent, then is President Trump your boss?”

“President Trump has designated me as chairman of the FCC; I think it comes as no surprise that I’m aligned with President Trump on policy,” Carr meandered, until Kim pressed him again.

“The president designated me as chairman,” said Carr. “I can be fired by the president, the president is the head of the executive branch.”

“So he’s your boss,” Kim responded. After Carr attempted to shift responsibility for his actions onto the other two members of the FCC, Kim asked, “You swore an oath when you came into your job. Does the oath have the word ‘president’ in it?”

Carr wouldn’t answer the question.

KIM: Is President Trump your boss?

CARR: President Trump has designated me as chair of the FCC

KIM: Do you consider him your boss?

CARR: I can be fired by the president

KIM: So he's your boss

CARR: Look, the decisions of the commissions are going to be based on a vote

KIM:… pic.twitter.com/VXNbsFxJUl

In response to Carr’s either feigning confusion or genuine perplexity about why anyone would care whether the president of the United States has influence over the media’s governing body, Kim decided to switch to a more direct line of questioning.

“Have you ever had a conversation with the president or senior administration officials about using the FCC to go after critics?” Kim said.

“First of all, senator, I don’t get into the specifics of conversations that I have,” Carr said.

“OK, let me reframe it then. Would it be appropriate for the president or senior administration officials to give you direction to pressure media companies?”

Carr, apparently committed to no longer answering questions, responded, “I’m sorry, I’m not gonna get into hypotheticals.”

Kim, looking exasperated, said, “The easy answer is, ‘No.’ It’s not a hypothetical. It’s literally just trying to determine whether or not you are understanding your job belonging to the American people. Trump is not your boss. The American people are your boss,” Kim continued.

As Kim, Carr, and many of us know, Kim’s questions aren’t about a hypothetical situation. Trump has repeatedly threatened to revoke the licenses of news networks, and Carr and the FCC have been all too happy to enforce the president’s desire to muzzle late-night hosts and media outlets.

“He did intentionally try to pressure you. This is real,” Kim said.

KIM: Is President Trump your boss?

CARR: President Trump has designated me as chair of the FCC

KIM: Do you consider him your boss?

CARR: I can be fired by the president

KIM: So he's your boss

CARR: Look, the decisions of the commissions are going to be based on a vote

KIM:… pic.twitter.com/VXNbsFxJUl

Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his investigations into President Donald Trump in a closed-door hearing with the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, pushing back against Trump’s repeated attempts to delegitimize and undermine Smith’s findings.

“If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the President was a Republican or Democrat,” Smith said in his opening statement, according to multiple news organizations who received copies of the remarks.

“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” he continued.

Smith, like anyone else who’s ever tried to hold Trump to account, has been facing a pressure campaign from the president. Recently, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a story from Fox News claiming that the FBI initially doubted that there was probable cause for the Mar-a-Lago raid, something that might matter if a federal judge hadn’t signed off on the search warrant, and if over 100 classified documents weren’t indeed found all over Trump’s estate.

And Republicans snuck a petty provision into the shutdown deal allowing Senate Republicans who had their phone records accessed by Smith—in order to see who may have been involved with Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election—to sue the Justice Department for millions.

Republicans rejected Smith’s request to testify publicly about his investigations into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents and his plot to overturn the election. But in Wednesday’s closed-door hearing, Smith still refused to let the Trump administration undermine his findings.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith

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