WASHINGTON, Mar 8: US lawmakers are seeking documents related to allegations that President Donald Trump tried to interfere in AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and David Cicilline said in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim.
According to an article published in the New Yorker this week, in the summer of 2017 Trump allegedly ordered National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department into blocking the $85.4 billion merger of the two communication giants. Last year, a US federal court rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to block the deal.
“We write to underscore our serious concerns regarding allegations that President Trump attempted to interfere with antitrust law enforcement,” the letter said on Thursday. “In light of these recent reports, we respectfully request that you provide the relevant documents and communications? no later than March 20, 2019.”
The lawmakers previously made two similar requests to the Justice Department last year but did not receive any documents, the letter said.
The US Justice Department in its lawsuit to block the merger had argued that the combination would reduce market competition and innovation for pay television.
AT&T is known to most Americans as a cell phone service provider while Time Warner owns giant media brands such as the HBO movie channel, the Warner Brothers movie studio and CNN.
(AGENCIES)
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