Deals
U.S. Fights AT&T Efforts to Unearth Trump Role in Merger Review
- AT&T seeks proof of White House role in lawsuit over deal
- Washington judge to rule on dispute on AT&T request next week
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The U.S. Justice Department is fighting AT&T Inc.’s search for evidence that President Donald Trump is behind the agency’s antitrust challenge to the takeover of Time Warner Inc.
Trump’s criticism of Time Warner’s CNN doesn’t justify AT&T’s “fishing expedition” for communications between the White House and the Justice Department, government lawyer Craig Conrath told U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington Friday. While the president dislikes the news channel, Conrath said, “AT&T wants to turn that into a get-out-of-jail-free card for their illegal merger.”