Trump Calls AT&T-Time Warner Deal 'Not Good for the Country'
November 21 2017 - 5:43PM
Dow Jones News
By Louise Radnofsky and Drew FitzGerald
President Donald Trump said AT&T Inc.'s takeover of Time
Warner Inc. wouldn't be good for the country, weighing in on the
$85 billion transaction the day after the Justice Department filed
a lawsuit to block it.
As he prepared to depart the White House, the president said in
response to a shouted question from a reporter that he shouldn't
comment on the litigation. Then he added: "Personally, I've always
felt that that was a deal that's not good for the country. I think
your pricing is going to go up."
It was the first time Mr. Trump has publicly discussed the
transaction since he has been in office, although Mr. Trump vowed
to block the transaction when he was campaigning for the White
House, saying it concentrated too much power.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that
the combination of AT&T's giant wireless and satellite
businesses with Time Warner's popular cable programming would give
the merged firm the power to hinder competitors and innovation.
AT&T criticized the government's arguments as unreasonable
and inconsistent with past practice. On Monday, CEO Randall
Stephenson called Mr. Trump's repeated criticisms of Time Warner's
CNN the "elephant in the room" in the Justice Department's case,
raising questions about political influence. The department has
said the White House didn't influence its decision to sue.
Write to Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com and Drew
FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 21, 2017 17:28 ET (22:28 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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