Two U.S. House lawmakers have requested White House and Justice Department records to investigate whether former President Donald Trump improperly influenced the regulatory review of AT&T's $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. The inquiry follows reports that Trump directed senior officials to block the deal through the Justice Department.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and antitrust panel chair David Cicilline cited a New Yorker report detailing a 2017 Oval Office meeting where Trump allegedly confronted National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn about delays in filing a legal challenge to the merger. The president reportedly told then-Chief of Staff John Kelly, "I’ve been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing’s happened! I want to make sure it’s filed. I want that deal blocked," according to the account.
The Justice Department had previously challenged the merger in November 2017, but a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's rejection of the case in February 2018. The agency has since declined to pursue further appeals. AT&T has not commented on the allegations, while the White House has not responded to the congressional request.
Trump's opposition to the deal dates to his 2016 presidential campaign, when he criticized it as consolidating media power and later accused it of threatening consumer interests. His administration also targeted CNN, a Time Warner subsidiary, over perceived biased coverage.
