The politics of Paramount
Two things can be true at once: The state lawsuit against Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery can be a straightforward antitrust case, and everything swirling around the deal can be politically calculated.
This morning Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a new letter to Paramount CEO David Ellison accusing him of “colluding” with President Trump and urging him to answer questions.
In the letter, obtained first by CNN, Raskin says Ellison is on a “Donald Trump-enabled shopping spree” and invokes the media climate in authoritarian countries.
The letter suggests that Paramount’s dealings with Trump will be a priority for the Judiciary Committee if Democrats regain the House majority in the midterm elections. I have more from Raskin down below.
Other Democratic lawmakers continue to rally opposition to the deal, as well, potentially lending credence to Paramount’s argument that this is all about politics. But as many other analysts have pointed out, the Paramount–Trump relationship is the reason those political fault lines exist in the first place.
Yesterday, Paramount chief legal officer Makan Delrahim sparked new chatter about Paramount’s intentions for Warner-owned CNN when he said that Ellison “wants to bring it back to news.”
Delrahim is a Trump administration veteran, having been the DOJ antitrust chief during Trump’s first term. His comment came at Politico’s California Agenda summit in Sacramento, when moderator Alex Burns observed that Trump’s pro-Paramount commentary “can’t be helpful to you.”
Attendees in the room chuckled, and Delrahim responded by pointing out “the president has also criticized us” before saying that Paramount has a “great relationship with people on both sides of the aisle.” That’s some of what preceded his CNN line: “What David wants to do with CNN is, I’ll refer you to his op-ed in The New York Times, he wants to bring it back to news.”
Maybe the line didn’t mean much to Delrahim — he hasn’t clarified or elaborated — but it raised eyebrows among journalists given that CNN has been a global news brand for 46 years. “Back” to news implies otherwise and echoes a familiar right-wing talking point.
There were lots of other newsy comments at the Politico conference. Delrahim pushed for settlement talks to resolve the state AG lawsuit, saying “we would be delighted to engage” in talks “in order to repair the industry, create more jobs, bring more jobs and production back.”
California AG Rob Bonta, who appeared earlier in the day, said Paramount is “eager” to settle, and said the states are open to any “good faith” proposals, but “right now, we’re focused on litigation and going to trial.”
Both men also addressed Matt Belloni’s report about Ellison planning to move Paramount out of California if the antitrust case isn’t settled by October 1, the day the WBD “ticking fee” hits.
Delrahim said Paramount doesn’t want to leave the state, but it has to ”look at the business environment” and “ultimately, you know, go to a place where you’re wanted.” Bonta called it a “blackmail” threat — a charge Delrahim refuted.
So is the leave-California threat realistic? TheWrap says “experts are split on the viability of running a major Hollywood studio from Nashville or Atlanta.”
This morning, Charlie Gasparino tweeted that “other points of leverage for Ellison and Paramount including moving all his news operations (aka CBS) out of NYC, I am told by people close to the company.” He noted that New York is one of the other states suing to block the deal.
It may also help Paramount that the likely next governor of California, Xavier Becerra, said at the Politico conference that “I hope it settles before court.” The current governor, Gavin Newsom, reportedly feels the same way.
At the moment, however, there are no active settlement talks. Puck’s Eriq Gardner says it’s a huge challenge for Ellison: He “doesn’t merely need to devise trade-offs the states can accept — he needs to give them something tangible that they can sell as a win, while somehow still walking away with the two companies he wanted in the first place.”
Now back to the new Raskin letter. With Republicans in control of the House, Dems like Raskin can’t compel Ellison to testify, so the interview demand is a way to amplify his concerns about the deal.
Raskin opened today’s missive by acknowledging that Paramount has not responded to his four previous inquiries in the past 12 months. But “now that you have vowed to break your long silence,” he wrote, citing Ellison’s op-ed in the NYT last week, “I invite you to a transcribed interview.” Raskin is clearly itching to investigate the Trump Justice Department’s approval of the Paramount–WBD deal. Here’s my full story…
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne broke the news this morning: “The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion, a record-breaking price, multiple sources told ESPN.”
The Lakers are one of the “greatest trophy assets in US sports,” CNN’s Chris Isidore and Matt Egan wrote here. Tying it back to our lead story, the aforementioned Eriq Gardner wrote on X, “Paramount Skydance’s current market cap is just $10.5 billion. Less than the Lakers!”
More breaking news this morning: The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have filed a federal lawsuit against Trump and several of his aides, alleging his charging “$100,000 per month for advance access to official government announcements on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns,” is a violation of the First and Fifth Amendments. “This scheme is profoundly corrupt,” the plaintiffs write. “This scheme is also unconstitutional.” Read the full complaint here.
>> Earlier this week Truth Social owner Trump Media “said it has signed more than 10 customer agreements, mostly with high-frequency trading companies,” for the access, CNN’s David Goldman and Matt Egan reported.
There are still many unanswered questions about Trump’s secret plane switch, even as he tries to downplay the whole thing. CNN’s Kevin Liptak reports this morning that a shoulder-fired missile threat prompted the plane swap, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Members of the White House Correspondents’ Association, including those who were on the “decoy” plane, obviously have concerns, and WHCA president Jacqui Heinrich said she conveyed those to the White House yesterday afternoon. Heinrich met with Steven Cheung and other Trump aides and had a “candid and productive” conversation, per the memo she wrote to the press corps afterward.
Heinrich also said she asked the administration to “work with us on a protocol for handling extraordinary security circumstances in the future.” Here’s my full story on that. Cheung did not respond to my request for comment…
>> President Bill Clinton “used a similar plane-change maneuver in 2000,” WaPo’s Scott Nover revealed yesterday. “But unlike Trump’s flight, the press corps was briefed on the operation and its dangers…”
>> Jeanine Pirro’s office has “convened a special grand jury in Washington, a rare legal body that officials say could pave the way for federal prosecutors in the nation’s capital to investigate some of its biggest and most controversial cases,” Perry Stein and Salvador Rizzo scooped this morning. (WaPo)
>> A judge has ordered the Kennedy Center to pay more than $250,000 in legal fees to Charles “Chuck” Redd, the jazz musician “whom the arts center sued for canceling a Christmas Eve concert after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the building’s facade,” NBC’s Gary Grumbach and Dareh Gregorian reported. (NBC)
>> “Fox News host Sean Hannity all but stopped talking about Iran on his primetime show in recent weeks,” Matt Gertz writes — an especially noteworthy change for someone who once nightly led the calls for US military action. (MMFA)
>> Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy says his network is preparing to sue the FCC over its vote to repeal the ownership cap. “I think Brendan Carr has not been very good for President Trump and the administration (and) certainly not good for conservatives,” Ruddy told Matthew Keys. (The Desk)
At an all-hands meeting with The Free Press staff yesterday, Bari Weiss said that president/publisher Dennis Berman and chief growth officer Daniel Hallac “are transitioning out of their day-to-day roles at The Free Press and will become senior advisors,” the NYT’s Ben Mullin and Katie Robertson scooped. “Both will remain involved with the company.”
Paramount bought The FP nearly a year ago, and these sorts of changes are normal after a sale. It sounds like no one will hold the president/publisher title for the time being.
I’m looking forward to this: CNN will have many angles of today’s rare total solar eclipse, with special TV/streaming coverage from 1 til 3 p.m. Eastern. NASA will have an English-language broadcast on its YouTube page starting at 1:15 p.m. And the European Space Agency will host a livestream from a Spanish observatory in the path…
>> CBS Sports is still “assessing” what to do about Tony Romo, “with no timetable set for his return” after he was put “on indefinite leave” after being arrested on suspicion of operating while under the influence last month. (FOS)
>> It’s a done deal: Ari Emanuel’s Mari Group has agreed to buy British theater giant ATG Entertainment. (WSJ)
>> Alex Cooper’s Unwell has been valued at $500 million after landing its first outside investor, Todd Spangler reports. (Variety)
>> “Activist investor Anson Funds is pushing movie studio Lionsgate to redefine itself for ‘the AI era’ or put itself up for sale,” Rohan Goswami reports. (Semafor)
It was a big deal when Meta backed away from fact-checking in the US. So this is intriguing: Reuters reports that Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant and TikTok have both agreed to “fact-check content on border crossings into Spain,” according to the European Union’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen, who wrote that the platforms have “activated crisis protocols and have now put in place an ad-hoc escalation and cooperation mechanism with fact-checkers.”
The effort is aimed at curbing misinformation that could encourage migrants to attempt crossings into Ceuta, an overseas territory recently beset by deadly rushes at the border…
“Apple TV has joined the battle to win US rights to golf’s Open Championship in the streaming platform’s latest move into sport,” The Guardian’s Matt Hughes reports. “Apple has had preliminary discussions… about bidding for the Open, whose current US deal with NBC expires in 2028,” Hughes writes, adding that Apple may face competition from Netflix and Amazon.
This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here.