Ranking Members Pallone and Raskin Expand Investigation into Paramount Skydance Amid Dangerous Consolidation of Media Conglomerates and Pressure to Relinquish Editorial Control of CNN to President Trump

Today, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Paramount Skydance Corporation CEO David Ellison demanding long-overdue answers as part of their ongoing investigation into the media giant’s dealings with the Trump Administration.

Today’s letter marks the latest escalation in the Ranking Members’ investigation into Mr. Ellison’s troubling merger dealings with the Trump Administration and the risks it poses to media independence, following prior demands for answers regarding the Paramount Skydance merger and Ellison’s subsequent stonewalling of the Committees’ investigation.

“Since taking office, President Trump has sought to exercise unparalleled control over the independent news media in the United States and abroad. He has filed frivolous lawsuits against the media, sought to impede reporters’ access to the White House press pool and the Pentagon, and gutted public funding for public radio and PBS.  He expects news outlets to favorably cover his Administration and has made it clear that he views the Warner merger as an opportunity to impose his views on CNN, which is owned by Warner,” the Ranking Members wrote.

Mr. Ellison has positioned his growing media empire to serve the political interests of Trump. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) greenlighted Skydance’s $8 billion acquisition of Paramount only after CBS capitulated to the President’s demands, which included settling a meritless lawsuit against 60 Minutes and installing an “ombudsman” tasked with enforcing the President’s editorial agenda.

Trump has now explicitly demanded “new ownership as well as changes to CNN programming,” and Mr. Ellison is intent on replicating the Paramount Skydance blueprint to heed these requests.

A merger of this magnitude between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery would dangerously consolidate media power within a single conglomerate, effectively suppressing independent voices under executive control.

Paramount Skydance has also recently admitted in a petition before the FCC that nearly half of the combined company would be foreign owned, while seeking approval for foreign investors to ultimately hold up to 100 percent of its equity. The transaction is backed by approximately $24 billion from sovereign wealth funds controlled by the foreign governments of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar.

President Trump has sought to bypass rigorous scrutiny of the proposed merger by systematically gutting the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. Without the searching antitrust inquiry that this merger demands, the Trump Administration is clearing a path to swiftly subvert CNN’s editorial independence. 

“Oversight serves as one of our committees’ key mechanisms for scrutinizing how the antitrust laws are enforced, how market-power abuses might harm competition, consumers and workers, and whether the federal antitrust agencies are promoting competition and innovation—or whether they are using these powers to distort the market by helping the President’s cronies. This deal demands such attention,” continued the Ranking Members.

Ranking Members Pallone and Raskin are demanding that Paramount Skydance CEO Ellison provide detailed responses and produce records and communications relevant to questions of potential executive and foreign interference in the proposed merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Click here to read the letter.

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