Obama openly called on the FCC to reclassify broadband providers as “Title II” public carriers and force the rules in November 2014, three months before the FCC election did just that. But an inquiry last year by the FCC’s objective Inspector General’s (IG) office found “no indication” of improper use of pressure by the White House when then-Chairman Tom Wheeler led the net neutrality vote, a newly published document shows.
“We found no indication of secret deals, promises or warnings from anyone outside the Commission, nor any indication of any other improper use of power to manipulate the FCC decision process,” the IG’s August 2016 report said of Obama’s role in the resolution to classify broadband providers as traditional carriers and impose net neutrality rules.
Instead, Obama’s statements “were made known in the history, in full view of all,” the report said.
News published the IG’s report recently after obtaining it via a Freedom of Information Act request.
The report doesn’t deny Pai’s claim that the Obama White House pushed the FCC to approve its Title II net neutrality rules. When he led last week’s vote to repeal the rules, Pai said the regulations had been adopted “on direct orders from the previous White House.”
Republican lawmakers maintained that the “White House bowled over FCC independence” in a report published in March 2016. Pai lauded the report at the time.
But Pai’s claim also detailed in his February 2015 dissent is based principally on Obama’s public announcement and how the FCC changed course after Obama spoke out. No one argues that Obama urged the FCC to impose the rules. But the IG’s report says there was nothing untoward about Obama’s public statement and confirmed Wheeler’s contention in 2015 that “There were no secret instructions from the White House.”
Upon conclusion of our review of the records described above, we were satisfied that nothing we discovered refuted the factual findings in the Senate Staff Report, and more importantly, nothing we found in the complete, unredacted record evidenced any undue influence that would have militated in favor of a more comprehensive investigation, including interviews.
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