Key Points
- Lawmakers Frank Pallone Jr. and Jamie Raskin accused Paramount CEO David Ellison of evading questions about possible deals with Donald Trump tied to the company’s merger with Skydance Media.
- The Congressmen said Ellison’s responses failed to clarify whether Paramount’s settlement with Trump or policy changes were connected to the FCC’s merger approval.
- Pallone and Raskin have demanded full answers and documents by the end of the month.
Two Congressmen have accused Paramount CEO David Ellison of sidestepping their questions into whether certain agreements made with President Donald Trump and members of his administration were forged to help secure approval for its multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance Media.
In a letter sent to Ellison on Wednesday, Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. of New Jersey and Jamie Raskin of Maryland said Ellison’s response to six questions they posed in April were incomplete or otherwise inadequate, in that they failed to appropriately answer direct questions about whether Paramount’s settlement of a news distortion lawsuit with Trump and other matters were directly connected to the company’s desire to merge with Skydance.
The six questions were detailed in a letter sent to Ellison on August 20, through which Pallone and Raskin asked for a copy of Paramount’s settlement with Trump; a copy of communications between Paramount and Skydance executives with Trump and members of his administration; internal communications detailing policy changes at Paramount following its merger with Skydance media; and information about assurances made to the Trump administration about commercial ad inventory set aside on CBS and other networks for Republican-backed public service announcements, among other materials.
Those agreements came several weeks before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave its approval for Paramount to transfer nearly two dozen broadcast licenses associated with local CBS and independent TV stations to Skydance, the last hurdle before the transaction could close. Pallone and Raskin think the timing of the approval was suspicious, and believe the settlement with Trump and assurances made to his administration were directly linked to the FCC’s green light.
The lawmakers said their suspicions were further stoked after the merger, when Paramount installed a news ombudsman, acquired the Substack newsletter “The Free Press” and hired Bari Weiss to serve as the new Editor-in-Chief of CBS News.
An attorney representing Paramount responded to the August 20 letter nine days later, but the response didn’t satisfy the concerns of the two lawmakers, they wrote on Wednesday.
“We write today because your response does not appear to reflect a good-faith effort to cooperate with our committees’ investigation,” Pallone and Raskin charged.
Along with re-stating their original six questions, Pallone and Raskin said the attorney’s response raised new concerns. That response said Skydance had “fully complied with all applicable laws,” including federal anti-bribery rules, but didn’t assert the same for Paramount.
The Congressmen have asked Ellison to provide complete responses to their original questions, and the materials sought, by November 26. It wasn’t clear what action they intended to take if Ellison and Paramount fail to provide the requested materials or don’t offer satisfactory answers before that deadline.
