Stephen Colbert says CBS lawyers pulled James Talarico interview as
early voting begins in Texas
[February 18, 2026]
By MEG KINNARD, JIM VERTUNO and JOHN HANNA
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Late-night host Stephen Colbert said his interview
with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was pulled from
Monday night’s broadcast over network fears it would violate regulatory
guidance from the Trump administration on giving equal time to political
candidates.
Colbert's statements overshadowed Tuesday's start of early voting for
Texas primaries that feature a heated Democratic race between Talarico
and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn
also faces the fight of his long career against Texas Attorney General
Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Colbert said CBS lawyers said in “no uncertain terms” that Talarico
could not appear on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” broadcast
because the network feared violating guidance from the Trump
administration. Colbert nevertheless interviewed Talarico for nearly 15
minutes and posted the video on YouTube, because online material does
not fall under the equal-time rule.
“Then I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not
have him on. I could not mention me not having him on,” Colbert said.
“And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this,
let’s talk about this.”
CBS disputed Colbert's account, saying its attorneys only “provided
legal guidance” that broadcasting an interview with Talarico could
trigger the Federal Communications Commission's equal-time rule.
Crockett expressed skepticism about the “mania” playing out on the first
day of early voting, “which feels kind of convenient.”
Two hot Senate races ramp up
Both Talarico and Crockett have built national profiles through viral
social media clips as media organizations have navigated around changing
broadcast guidance issued under President Donald Trump governing how
they interview political candidates.
Talarico posted a nearly minute-long clip of his interview with Colbert
on X, calling it “the interview Donald Trump didn't want you to see.”
During the interview, Talarico said he thinks Trump is worried that
Democrats can win the Texas seat.
“The administration was playing politics and was trying to control what
a late-night show puts on air, something that’s never been done before,”
Talarico told reporters during a news conference Tuesday in Austin after
he voted early. "The executives at CBS were willing to go along with
it."
Crockett suggested that Colbert could have avoided an issue with the FCC
by having her on the show, as he has in the past. Both she and Talarico
also have appeared on ABC's daytime show “The View.”
She told reporters after voting early in Dallas that she still was
looking into the situation but added: “I’ve done Colbert a number of
times. I've done ‘The View’ a number of times. I've done (Jimmy) Kimmel
a number (of times). I’ve done all of these shows a number of times.”
On the Republican side, Paxton stepped up what had been a low-key
campaign with a rally Monday evening in Tyler in eastern Texas, while
Cornyn had his own rally Tuesday in Austin. Hunt released a new
television ad on Tuesday.
Warnings from the FCC
Broadcast networks have been required to give equal time to political
candidates, but that rule hasn't traditionally been applied to talk
shows.
In January, the Federal Communications Commission issued new guidance
warning late-night and daytime hosts that they need to give political
candidates equal time. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee,
questioned the talk show exemption and posited that hosts were
“motivated by partisan purposes.”
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Election signs crowd an intersection near a polling place, in
Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The public notice said the FCC had not seen evidence that talk shows
would qualify for an exemption from the rule for “bona fide news.”
Carr has often criticized network talk shows, suggesting last year
that probing “The View” — whose hosts have frequently been critical
of Trump — over the exemption might be “worthwhile.”
The FCC did not immediately respond Tuesday to a message seeking
comment.
Colbert’s days as host are limited, following CBS’ announcement last
year that it was canceling his show this May for financial reasons,
shuttering a decades-old TV institution in a changing media
landscape.
But the timing of that announcement — three days after Colbert
criticized the settlement between Trump and Paramount Global, parent
company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” story — led two U.S. senators to
publicly question the motives behind the move, which served to
remove from air one of Trump’s most prominent and persistent
late-night critics.
Candidates look to avoid runoffs
Meanwhile, Talarico and Crockett are hoping to avoid a May 26 runoff
by capturing at least 50% of the Democratic vote in the March 3
primary. While Paxton also is, until Friday, the only ad his
campaign ran had attacked Hunt.
Hunt is trying to appeal to voters seeking an alternative to Cornyn
but uneasy about Paxton. The Texas attorney general beat a 2023
impeachment trial on corruption charges and reached a deal to end a
long-running securities fraud case but now faces a contentious
divorce over allegations of adultery.
Hunt's new ad shows photos of him with Trump, hitting Cornyn over
his long political career and declaring, “This is our moment to end
the status quo.”
But Paxton's campaign has been airing its own ad featuring video
clips of him with Trump since Friday. The president had not endorsed
any candidate as of Monday.
Paxton on Monday night portrayed Cornyn as a creature of the
Washington establishment, adding, “Well, I’m not their person and
I’m never going to be their person.”
GOP fears about Paxton
Paxton looks like the GOP's front-runner, even though Cornyn’s
campaign and allied super PACs had spent more than $54 million on
television advertising since last year, according to the ad-tracing
service AdImpact.
Republican Senate leaders in Washington say Paxton would require
hundreds of millions of dollars more to defend in a general election
than Cornyn would — and that the party shouldn't have to spend in a
state Trump carried by over 13 percentage points.
Cornyn hit on those concerns during his Austin rally, saying
nominating Paxton would “take a toll on everybody on the ballot” for
the GOP.
“We’ll pay the price of having an albatross like our corrupt
attorney general around their neck,” he said.
___
Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina, and Hanna from
Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writers David Bauder in New York
and Thomas Beaumont in Tyler, Texas, contributed.
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