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Vanity Fair SEARCH 3ARTICLES LEFT Subscribe Sign In CLOSE ACCESS IS EVERYTHING You’ve read half of your complimentary articles for the month. Try Vanity Fair and receive a free tote. Join Now ACCESS IS EVERYTHING You’ve read your last article. Get Vanity Fair now — plus, you’ll receive a free tote. Join Now Sign InCreate An Account MediaTRUMP’S ALLEGED MEDDLING WITH CNN COULD BE AN IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE The president reportedly demanded the Justice Department file an antitrust lawsuit to hurt CNN. BY ERIC LUTZ MARCH 4, 2019 12:30 PM by Win McNamee/Getty Images. Presidents don’t typically get involved in anti-trust matters before the Justice Department. But according to a new report, that’s precisely what Donald Trump did, in an apparent effort to hurt CNN and boost his Fox News buddies. Per The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, Trump in 2017 directed then-chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and then-chief of staff John Kelly to “pressure” the Justice Department to block a merger between AT&T and Time Warner, the entertainment conglomerate that owned CNN. “I’ve been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing’s happened!” Trump told Kelly in a meeting at the time with Cohn, according to Mayer. “I’ve mentioned it 50 times. And nothing’s happened. . . . I want that deal blocked.” Mayer’s reporting would appear to confirm suspicions inside CNN and AT&T at the time. In late November, the D.O.J. sued to block the $85 billion merger, which executives at both companies saw as an essential step toward competing with Netflix and other ascendant streaming platforms. As my colleague Joe Pompeo wrote, sources at both companies believed the lawsuit was not driven by anti-trust concerns, but by politics. CNN remains a great source of frustration for the president, who frequently calls the cable network “fake news.” The speculation was that Trump was using his influence over the D.O.J. to force AT&T to divest itself of CNN. But AT&T C.E.O. Randall Stephenson was insistent that CNN be part of the deal, and the two sides went to court. Cohn apparently agreed that Trump’s interest in the merger was inappropriate. “Don’t you fucking dare call the Justice Department,” Cohn reportedly told Kelly after the meeting at which Trump demanded a lawsuit. “We are not going to do business that way.” (The Trump administration insists that there was nothing political about the case, which it lost, appealed, and then lost again.) Watch Now: How Steve Bannon Manipulates People Mayer documents the lengths to which the president has gone to intervene in the ratings war between CNN and Fox News, whose C.E.O., billionaire Rupert Murdoch,unsuccessfully attempted to acquire Time Warner in 2014. She also describes various instances in which Fox News actively sought to boost Trump. In one instance, the late Roger Ailesallegedly tipped Trump to questions he’d be asked at a Republican debate. Another time, the conservative-friendly cable network reportedly spiked a Fox journalist’s early coverage of candidate Trump’s alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.(Trump, who paid tens of thousands of dollars to keep Daniels quiet, claims there was no sexual relationship.) The reporter, Diana Falzone, had “obtained proof” about the affair and confirmed it with multiple sources, but her editors didn’t want to run it. Former Fox executive Ken LaCortereportedly told Falzone, “Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go.” (LaCorte denies this account.) The symbiotic relationship between Trump and Fox News, while unseemly, is well-known and largely public. Trump regularly calls into Fox News programs, offers programming advice, maintains close personal relationships with Fox hosts, and has stocked his administration with Fox News alumni. His alleged interference in the AT&T-Time Warner merger, however, may constitute an abuse of power. “If proven, such an attempt to use presidential authority to seek retribution for the exercise of First Amendment rights would unquestionably be grounds for impeachment,” tweetedTrump critic George Conway, a conservative attorney who is married to Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway. Impeachment is surely a ways off. At the very least, the president’s interest in the merger is another tantalizing investigatory target for Democrats in the House. They’re already investigating just about everything else. DONALD TRUMP FOLLOW GARY COHN FOLLOW Follow to get the latest news and analysis about the players in your inbox. SEE ALL PLAYERS YOU MIGHT LIKE The Nixonian Roots of Trump’s CNN RageVanity Fair “Everyone Thinks They’re Going to Sell”: Hellfire at Fox as Hannity Mulls Leaving and Lachlan Goes Full Donna Brazile on TrumpVanity Fair Why Fire Two When One Will Do?: Trump’s Plan May Be to Save Rosenstein, Push Out Sessions After the MidtermsVanity Fair Omarosa Is Right: Why President Pence Could Be More Terrifying Than TrumpVanity Fair “This Is Spy-Hunting”: Inside the Dark Heart of the Mueller ReportVanity Fair “A Crime in Public View”: How William Barr Pardoned Donald TrumpVanity Fair READ MORE FROM VANITY FAIRSEEK “This Is Spy-Hunting”: Inside the Dark Heart of the Mueller ReportBY ABIGAIL TRACY