The War for Warners
On Tuesday evening, Paramount’s newish boss David Ellison strode into the White House, where Donald Trump hosted a lavish black-tie dinner in the East Room for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—the same man the U.S. determined was responsible for the butchering of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It was a notable capstone to Ellison’s day. He was seated at one of three long banquet tables, surrounded by a who’s who of business and celebrity powerbrokers, including Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Bret Baier.
Hours earlier, Variety had reported, and then largely walked back, that Paramount had “formed an investment consortium with the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi” to pursue a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. The story wasn’t entirely off base. People familiar with the matter told me that Paramount has indeed held conversations with potential partners in the Middle East. But key specifics in the report were, at this stage, premature.
What is accurate is that Paramount is preparing its final bid for WBD, which Ellison still hopes to swallow whole despite David Zaslav’s best efforts to beat back the takeover. Paramount’s board, I’m told, is set to…
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Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office. (Screen grab)
Trump’s Murder Meltdown: Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered a shocking defense of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, suggesting that the journalist’s dismembering was his own fault. “You’re mentioning someone that was extremely controversial,” Trump said while sitting next to MBS on his first Washington visit since the Khashoggi murder made him a global pariah. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”
► Trump also berated ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce in front of MBS and television cameras over her questions about Khashoggi and the Epstein Files, calling her a “terrible person and a terrible reporter” and “all psyched up.” He then suggested the Disney-owned network should…
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