Alina Habba to Newsmax: DirecTV Removing Newsmax 'Needs to Be Investigated'

Alina Habba, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, says AT&T DirecTV's deplatforming of Newsmax "needs to be investigated."

Habba told Wednesday's "National Report" it is inappropriate to try and censor conservative voices, "especially those that tend to be doing better than some of the traditional, left-wing media outlets."

"If you're effective, they're going to come after you and, if you're not, they won't, so I think that you know, it's a scary time in our in our country," Habba said.

"I think that we should not be censoring either side of the voices – either liberal or conservative – but after doing this to OAN and now Newsmax, especially with the ratings as they were, it's a very clear issue that needs to be investigated.

"And I think the House Oversight Committee will do that."

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and the House Oversight Committee chair, in late January pledged to look into DirecTV removing the network from its service.

DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to complain, demand Newsmax is returned! Oppose censorship – sign The Petition – Click Here

"There's gonna be a committee that's going to hold hearings," Comer told Newsmax anchor Rob Finnerty. "We're sitting, we're gonna meet later today and try to discuss which committee's going to do what. That's certainly on the agenda. I'm very concerned by this."

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a member of the same committee, told Newsmax this week that Republicans are "definitely looking into" holding a hearing.

"We obviously have an issue with a lot of media companies silencing conservative thought and conservative speech," Donalds said, "and the one thing we're committed to is doing everything we can to put an end to it."

DirecTV on Tuesday said the dispute was simply a "typical business dispute that has nothing to do with ideology, politics, or censorship – despite unfounded accusations to the contrary by Newsmax, its CEO, its commentators and others."

DirecTV claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would cost them in the "tens of millions" of dollars.

Newsmax has denied these claims, saying it was seeking a fee of about $1 per cable subscriber per year, among the lowest fees asked for in cable, and that total amount of the deal was a fraction of "tens of millions."

"This was never about the fees being excessive," Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, said. "DirecTV's position has always been that Newsmax of all cable news channels should never get any cable fee whatsoever, not one penny. "

DirecTV continues to carry 22 left-leaning news channels, many with much lower ratings than Newsmax. And all of those channels get license fees.

1. DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to complain, demand Newsmax is back on air!

2. Call your congressman or senator at 202-224-3121 and demand they stop AT&T/DirecTV's censorship of NEWSMAX — ask them to give you a date on the hearings!

3. Go to our online petition and get more info: iWantNewsmax.com.

• Trump: 'Disgrace' for AT&T to Censor Newsmax
• Rep. Byron Donalds to Newsmax: Oversight 'Looking Into' AT&T DirecTV Hearing