California senators are looking for an investigation into paramount-trump settlements
Two Senators of the State of California called for an audience on the settlement talks between Paramount Global and President Trump, alleging that such an agreement would constitute a bridge pot in order to obtain the regulatory approval of the merger of the studio with Skydance Media.
In a letter sent on Friday, meaning. Tom Umberg and Josh Becker suggest that a regulation could violate the state and federal law, as well as a “frightening effect” on investigative and political journalism. The senators invited Wendy McMahon and Bill Owens, the best CBS executives who have resigned in recent weeks, to testify.
The senators said they were at the start of a survey focused on “the guarantee of public -oriented media companies based on content and quality, not influence, capitulation or political appeasement”.
The letter was reported for the first time by Semaor.
Trump continued CBS last October for $ 10 billion, alleging that the network had fraud to consumers by editing part of a “60 -minute” interview with Kamala Harris. Although CBS argued in court that the prosecution is baseless, Paramount controlling the shareholder Shari Redstone would nevertheless have pushed a regulation, in the hope that this will help to accelerate the sword of 8 billion dollars pending. Trump then changed the prosecution to request $ 20 billion in damages.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Paramount was ready to pay up to $ 15 million, although Trump resisted a higher amount.
Three American Democratic Senators – Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Bernie Sanders – have made alarms earlier this month about discussions, suggesting that a corrupt counterpart can violate the federal corruption status.
Umberg is a former federal prosecutor. In their letter, Him and Becker, both Democrats, suggest that a regulation will also violate the California unfair competition law and expose the members of the board of directors to the shareholders.
“The capitulation of Paramount would also undermine two essential pillars of a liberal democracy: a free press and a system of impartial regulation and rule of the law,” wrote the senators.
Owens, the executive producer of “60 minutes”, resigned in April, citing interference with the supervisors of CBS companies at Paramount. McMahon, the president of CBS News who also supervised the local stations, resigned on May 19, also citing conflicts with Paramount Honchos.
The letter invites both to testify as “friendly witnesses”, which suggests that they may be able to offer information on the discussions and setbacks of the Division of News. The Paramount card was copied to the letter.
Some ethics experts have indicated that it would be difficult to prove an accusation of corruption in court, given the challenge to demonstrate an explicit counterpart.
