President Donald Trump’s top media attack dog used to be involved with a sketchy addiction recovery group where women were allegedly sexually exploited by male group leaders.
Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, was formerly associated with the Midtown Group—a rogue chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous based in Washington, D.C., that some former members described as a “cult,” according to The Guardian.
The group’s one-time leader, Michael Quinones, was the mastermind behind its manipulative and sexually exploitative conduct, former members told the outlet. Quinones, who died of cancer in 2007, was a controlling force in their lives, dictating where they lived, worked, and went to school.
Former members also alleged that teenage girls and young women in the group were encouraged and coerced into “dating” and having sex with male Midtown members, including some decades older than them.
A former member said she experienced at least one case that she characterized as potential sex trafficking. Another former member, identified by the Guardian as Tammy S, described Quinones as the “Epstein of AA.”
Carr, 47, was a member of the group for nearly a decade during his late teens and 20s, but there was no evidence he participated in any inappropriate behavior.
A former member told the Guardian that Carr was “never among” the predators and that he was a “victim” himself, while another described him as providing “safe respite” in an environment where women were treated poorly.
“He was never involved in anything shady, and was actually the reverse—quite a stand-up guy,” a former member told the outlet. “I was the sponsor to all the young girls and know all the predators well. Brendan was never among them.”
Another former member alleged that those in the group at the time knew inappropriate conduct was going on.
“He knew the deal, and he hung around there... I did the same thing,” the member said. “But I should not be the chair of the FCC either.”
Another former member, identified as Lydia, said that “the wounds inflicted upon us during our time trapped at Midtown have formed scars.”
“A man who has the power to control what types of stories the mainstream public have access to is a man who should expect the narrative of his own life to fall under scrutiny,” she added.
A spokesperson for the FCC told the Guardian that Carr “did not engage in any of the allegedly illegal conduct or abusive behavior you reference.”
The FCC did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
The eventual FCC chair joined the group in 1996, when he was a senior in high school, and stayed for about nine years, even while attending law school at Georgetown, the Guardian reported.
In two recordings of Carr during his time at Midtown obtained by the Guardian, he expressed his desire for others’ approval and how important sobriety was in his household. He also said the group was “a lot more than a meeting to me.”
One woman whom Carr dated said he was a “safe” person and had even “snuck” her fries while she was on a strict diet, which was a move that he could have faced punishment for.
“Brendan got gobbled up like everyone else,” she said. “Here is the thing. Mike Quinones was in his 50s and liked to sleep with young girls. And there were some older men at the top, his lieutenants. But you are not going to get a 15-year-old like me to hang out [if there are not young men there]. You needed younger guys to serve as bait.”
The woman told the Guardian she had reached out to Carr over Facebook after his first clash with Jimmy Kimmel last year, which was prompted by the late-night host’s comments following Charlie Kirk’s death.
She said she pleaded with him to recognize the harmful environment they grew up in and that he didn’t need anyone else’s approval, while thanking him for being a “consistent, safe respite.”
“You are fortified in yourself as a man—a man who has a family of his own now,” she says she wrote to Carr. “You have your own table now, you don’t need to earn a seat at anyone else’s.”
“He is Mike, Brendan,” she wrote, comparing Trump to Quinones. “And I know you know that.”
The woman told the Guardian that Carr did not reply to her letter, but she believes he read it.
