The president and his administration are openly counting down the days until CNN is in the hands of their ally, David Ellison. Trump spent a decade obsessing over CNN and trying to sell the channel to one of his friends. During his first administration, Trump attempted to put CNN in the hands of Rupert Murdoch.
The president is finally on the verge of achieving his goal with the acquisition of CNN as part of the Warner Bros. buyout. Discovery by David Ellison.
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While the Justice Department can be counted on to stand idly by and not investigate this dangerous media consolidation, members of Congress are mobilizing to investigate the promises made to Donald Trump in order to gain his approval of the deal.
As part of their investigation, Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote to David Ellison demanding answers about his dealings with the Trump administration.
The Democrats wrote:
President Trump said he would intervene in Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner and “be involved in that decision,” signaling to Paramount Skydance that currying favor with him would influence the outcome of the Warner sale. “[A] A person close to Trump said the president would want Paramount and Netflix to compete for his approval of a deal. Even FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who has limited jurisdiction over the potential acquisition, has decided to publicly weigh in on the deal in favor of Paramount Skydance.
You seem so confident about your success that you publicly stated that Paramount Skydance would obtain “the necessary approvals quickly and efficiently,” likely due to political interference from the Trump administration.
Members of Congress also raised questions about what Trump hopes to get out of CNN’s new ownership, the foreign money used to finance the purchase and the dangerous level of consolidation of the newspaper and film industries under Ellison.