Schiff Questions Carr on Skydance/Paramount Deal
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr needs to clarify the FCC’s conditions for the Skydance/Paramount deal and be transparent about any role President Donald Trump played in influencing the FCC’s decision, said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in a letter to Carr Monday.…
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Paramount Global’s settlement of a private suit by Trump followed days later by the FCC approving Skydance's acquisition of Paramount “raises significant questions and alarm” that the agency “has become a vehicle for President Trump to exact personal retribution and undermine the freedom of the press,” said the letter. “The FCC’s recent actions are especially troubling considering President Trump’s history of disparaging the press and undermining the protections afforded to them by the Constitution,” Schiff wrote. “In a blatant example of Trump’s political interference in the FCC’s regulatory review, the President boasted on Truth Social about his ‘BIG AND IMPORTANT WIN’ against Paramount just two days before the Commission’s approval of the company’s merger with Skydance,” the letter said. Schiff gave Carr until Monday to answer questions about the president’s involvement in the transaction's approval, promises made by Skydance (see 2507220070), and the FCC’s insulation from “external political pressure.”