DOJ, Trump Deny Reports of White House Involvement in AT&T/TW Review

DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim and President Donald Trump deny White House involvement in the agency's review of AT&T's planned buy of Time Warner. Delrahim in a statement Wednesday said he has "never been instructed by the White House on this or any other transaction under review by the antitrust division." An White House in an accompanying statement said, "The President did not speak with the Attorney General about this matter, and no White House official was authorized to speak with the Department of Justice on this matter.” Justice was reportedly pushing for a divestiture of Turner Networks or of DirecTV as a condition of approving AT&T/TW (see 1711080047). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Wednesday that if the DOJ is using antitrust law to force a sale of Turner's CNN because of opinions of its coverage, "You can dislike consolidation but still find this extremely disturbing if true." Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said the deal shouldn't go forward because of media consolidation worries, but signs the Trump administration is trying to attack media organizations it doesn't like would be "profoundly disturbing." Other Senate Democrats also raised new questions about the DOJ's independence from Trump given the AT&T/TW review demands, including House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “Any suggestion that the deal be conditioned on selling off a news channel because of its coverage is offensive to both the First Amendment and the rule of law,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a statement. Dish Network's CEO voiced concerns Thursday about AT&T/TW (see 1711090004). DOJ, meanwhile, said “there is no legal obligation” for Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim to recuse himself from involvement in the department's review of AT&T/TW based on earlier comments he made that the proposed merge doesn't pose a “major antitrust problem,” said Assistant Attorney General-Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd in a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Warren sought Delrahim's recusal over the comments, which she said could “undermine public confidence in the Division's ability to reach an unbiased final decision” on AT&T/TW. The full version of Delrahim's comments show he “indicated the proposed merger should and would get a full and complete review” by Antitrust, “that the review would be based on the law and the facts,'” Boyd said. “We can assure you that [Antitrust's] merger enforcement will be based on application of the law to the particular facts and circumstances presented by any proposed merger.”