AT&T’s bid for Trump notes is shot do(w)n
AT&T has lost its bid to obtain correspondence between the White House and the Justice Department related to its pending deal to buy Time Warner.
AT&T had sought the correspondence in an attempt to prove it had been “especially singled out” by the department — not because of antitrust concerns, but due to President Donald Trump’s animosity toward Time Warner’s CNN.
US District Judge Richard Leon ruled on Tuesday that AT&T had “fallen far short of establishing that [Justice’s] enforcement action was selective — that is, that there ‘exist persons similarly situated who have not been prosecuted.’ ”
AT&T agreed to buy Time Warner for $85 billion in October 2016. That same month, then-presidential nominee Trump said he wouldn’t approve the deal.
In September, before being confirmed as Justice’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim told the media he didn’t see a major problem with an AT&T-Time Warner tie-up.
Still, the department sued to block the deal in November, claiming AT&T could “use its control of Time Warner’s popular programming as a weapon to harm competition.”
Last week, in a highly unusual move, AT&T put Delrahim on its witness list for the trial, slated to begin on March 19.
The move struck experts as gutsy in that it potentially offended AT&T’s primary antagonist in the antitrust contest.
In a footnote to his ruling, Judge Leon said follow-up discussions with both parties have him “proceeding on the belief that AAG Delrahim will be stricken from the list.”
In response, Dan Petrocelli, lead trial attorney for AT&T and Time Warner, said in a statement: “We respect the judge’s decision and look forward to the upcoming trial.”