FCC Nominee’s Failure to Identify Industry Clients Unlikely to Delay Brendan Carr Nomination

WASHINGTON, August 1, 2017 — Omissions in sworn testimony by Federal Commissions Commission Republican nominee Brendan Carr regarding his representation of various telecommunications providers won’t cause any delay in his upcoming confirmation vote, Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Bill Nelson, D-Fla, told BroadbandBreakfast.com on Monday.

Carr, who currently serves as general counsel to the FCC under Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, testified during a confirmation hearing earlier this month that he “accepted a job at a law firm where [he] could gain broad experience working on various telecommunications issues” before taking a clerkship which “helped spark [his] interest in public service.”

Carr’s description of his private sector legal work failed to include the fact that his work at Wiley Rein included representation of companies like AT&T, Verizon Communications (a former client of Chairman Pai), and both US Telecom and CTIA, trade associations that represent the nation’s largest wireless and wireline telecommunications providers.

Asked whether allegations that Carr omitted reference to his legal work for interested telecommunications parties would cause a delay the vote scheduled for a Wednesday markup session, Nelson simply, “no.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, also said that it was “highly unlikely” that the fact Carr failed to elucidate details of his client would cause a delay.

And Sen. Booker himself told BroadbandBreakfast.com he “can’t comment on chatter,” admitting that the senator had heard about the issue.

(Screenshot of Brendar Carr participating in a CTIA event in September 2016.)