T AT&T Inc

By Drew FitzGerald 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 10, 2018).

WASHINGTON -- A group of former Justice Department officials has asked a judge to revisit questions about whether the White House interfered in the government's lawsuit challenging AT&T Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc.

The officials, including former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Nixon-era Justice Department and White House lawyer John W. Dean, filed a friend-of-the-court brief late Thursday in which they argued the case was clouded by a perception that the department filed the lawsuit at President Donald Trump's request to punish Time Warner channel CNN. Mr. Trump has criticized the network's coverage of his administration as unfair.

"Public confidence in the rule of law demands a full inquiry, if for no other reason than to ensure the public that the department continues to adhere to its obligation of ensuring the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans," the former officials wrote in their brief.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to open trial proceedings in the case on March 19. The judge didn't immediately rule on whether he would allow the former officials' brief to be submitted officially in the case.

The government said in a filing Friday that the brief "does not appear meaningfully to add to unresolved issues in the upcoming trial," though the department stopped short of opposing it.

The brief comes at an unusual time because Judge Leon already issued a ruling last month that undercut AT&T's plans to argue that the case was politically motivated. The judge said the companies hadn't shown that they had been "especially singled out" by the lawsuit and he said they couldn't have access to certain internal government communications.

The Justice Department's antitrust division sued to stop the $85 billion takeover in November, arguing the media-telecom tie-up would hurt competition in the entertainment business.

AT&T, which has questioned the department's motives, says the deal would be good for consumers and advertisers and would help it compete with companies like Netflix Inc., Google and Amazon.com Inc.

Makan Delrahim, the Justice Department's antitrust chief, has said he didn't receive instructions or directions from Mr. Trump or anyone else outside the department's antitrust division on whether to challenge the deal.

The former Justice officials said the government's lawsuit would raise serious constitutional concerns if it were motivated by Mr. Trump's CNN animus. The president can set overall law-enforcement priorities, but the Constitution limits him from intervening in specific enforcement cases, they said.

Mr. Trump last year fired Mr. Bharara from his powerful post as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York after he refused to resign. Mr. Dean served as White House counsel to President Richard Nixon before later testifying against him in the Watergate affair.

Both Messrs. Bharara and Dean are now paid commentators for CNN, though they said they weren't arguing in that capacity.

--Brent Kendall contributed to this article.

Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 10, 2018 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

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