Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive U.S. reporting and analysis delivered to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

NBC gave Donald Trump’s campaign two free commercial slots on Sunday after the network may have ignored the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” rules with Kamala Harris. Saturday evening live appearance.

The former president took to the airwaves with a powerful, pre-recorded 60-second message, which was shown near the end of both Sunday night’s NASCAR playoff race and the NFL. Sunday night football game.

Wearing a red MAGA hat, Trump urged viewers to get out and vote just two days after Election Day, warning that Harris would cause a “depression” across the US, according to the segment seen Through Hollywood reporter.

A source told the network that Trump’s unexpected appearance marked an attempt by the network to comply with the FCC’s equal-time rules, which require broadcasters to provide equal access to competing political candidates during an election cycle.

It is not clear whether the Trump campaign requested the slot or whether it was provided by NBC.

Trump’s message came a day after Harris poked fun at Trump during a surprise cameo SNL this weekend in a 90-second skit.

The vice president took a detour from her campaign stop in Michigan to fly to New York City to appear in the show’s cold open with Maya Rudolph — who played this season’s Democratic nominee.

The pair joked about Trump, who donned a fluorescent orange safety vest and struggled to get into a garbage truck during a campaign stunt in Wisconsin last week.

Her appearance came after Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator, spoke out Hollywood reporter last month that SNL had not approached any candidate and had no intention of doing so “due to election laws and equal time provisions.”

Senior advisor Jason Miller told the newspaper on Saturday Associated press that he didn’t know if the former president had been invited to the show, before adding: “Probably not.”

NBC then filed a notice saying Harris appeared “without charge” on Sunday.

But FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr turned to

“The purpose of the rule is to prevent exactly this type of biased and partisan behavior – a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence on one candidate on the eve of an election,” Carr said Saturday evening.

‘Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns.’

Late Sunday, Carr cited the FCC rule that he said requires a broadcaster to give a candidate one week to request his equal time — despite the SNL clip aired three days after election day.

He added: “NBC structured the SNL candidate’s appearance (just hours before an election) in a way that denies all other candidates their one-week procedural right.”

The Trump campaign also lashed out at Harris SNL appearance on Saturday.

“Kamala Harris has nothing of substance to offer the American people, so that’s why she’s living out her twisted fantasy by cosplaying with her elitist friends on Saturday Night Leftists while her campaign fades into obscurity,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to Fox news.

The independent has contacted NBC and the Trump campaign for further comment.