Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social at 9:11 a.m. ET on Sunday, roughly three hours into the day’s morning broadcast of “Fox & Friends.” In his post, Trump, a regular Fox News viewer and even occasional call-in guest, called out the program for not adequately covering his rally from the evening before.

“Sad to see that Fox & Friends (Sunday) is not covering our packed house and incredibly enthusiastic (beyond!) Rally that took place in Ohio last night, or the ones in Alabama, Texas, or Oklahoma over the past two days,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They were all sold out, with thousands of people trying to get in, and are absolutely phenomenal, better than ever! It’s the old undercurrent at Fox News! Other networks are reporting about these Rallies, and really positively, like ‘crazy!’ Our people want to see our Rallies, and reports on our Rallies, on Fox News, or they will very quickly stop watching (like I am doing right now!).”

Trump went on to call out Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov, a Democratic Party strategist, as “stupid” and slamming the network for having her “forced down MAGA’S throats.”

“Who makes these decisions at Fox News? Probably the same loser that fired the great Maria Bartiromo because she complained about not being allowed to cover ‘TRUMP,'” Trump continued. “Cover our ‘happenings,’ and not the opposition to Greatness for America, or Fox News will soon have the ratings of FAKE NEWS CNN or MSNOW (MSDNC). Remember, Fox tried this act once before, and almost went out of business (and always right before an election!). That can happen again!”

Per a report by Mediaite, Fox News had included coverage of Trump’s Ohio rally in Sunday morning’s broadcast, though it only featured a mention of the president’s defense of data centers.

Trump’s criticism of Fox News also comes after the network released a statement in support of CNN after Trump banned the outlet, along with Politico and MS NOW, from the White House press pool.

The post Trump Lashes Out at Fox News for ‘Not Covering’ His Ohio Rally: ‘Who Makes These Decisions?’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The 24-year-old Harmony, who has served as Real America’s Voice’s White House correspondent since joining the conservative network in September 2025, confirmed her appointment on X Friday evening. TMZ reported earlier that day that she had been scooped up to work for Trump.

“I’m excited to announce that I am joining the Trump Administration as Asst. White House Press Secretary,” she wrote. “It’s been an honor to report, travel and cover this historic administration as Senior White House Correspondent for Real America’s Voice. My goal has always been to ask the questions that matter to real Americans and make sure their voices are heard.”

“I’m incredibly grateful to President Trump for this opportunity and his trust,” she continued. “I’m looking forward to this next chapter – serving the American people and continuing to fight for the American Dream. America First.”

Harmony’s addition to the press team comes as the White House has yet to find a replacement for Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down as White House press secretary at the end of August.

Trump broke the news on Truth Social at the time, writing, “Our wonderful White House Press Secretary, and one of my most trusted aides, Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!”

Leavitt welcomed her second child, a daughter named Viviana “Vivi” Riccio, in May 2026.

As Trump went on, he praised Leavitt’s work in the administration and said she would remain involved in his political operation after leaving the White House, writing, “Karoline will continue on as one of my TOP outside Advisors, and will remain an influential voice within the Republican Party as we head into the Midterms.”

Leavitt, 27, became the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary when Trump returned to office in January 2025. 

Following the news of her planned exit, Leavitt wrote on X, “The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life.”

Vice President JD Vance and other Trump administration officials have stepped in to give press briefings as the press secretary position remains vacant.

The post Trump Finds New Assistant Press Secretary in Real America’s Voice Correspondent appeared first on TheWrap.

“CNN published a deeply misleading story and headline suggesting that my diplomatic work in the Middle East somehow benefited investments in Israeli defense companies,” President Trump’s son-in-law and Special Envoy for Peace shared on X. “But CNN’s own reporting says otherwise. Buried behind a paywall, it acknowledges: ‘CNN found no indication that Kushner’s actions as a diplomat directly affected the investments reviewed.'”

CNN reported Thursday that Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, is the largest shareholder in Phoenix Financial, an Israeli financial institution that holds investments in at least nine companies supplying military equipment to Israel. The news outlet also reported that Affinity does not directly own stakes in those companies.

Kushner went on to explain that the company in question is not a defense company but rather one of “Israel’s largest publicly traded financial institutions,” akin to Vanguard or Fidelity. He further noted that his investment in it through Affinity predated Trump’s re-election as well as his own return to public service.

“Misleading stories will not distract me from the work President Trump asked me to do: help end wars, bring people together and pursue peace,” Kushner further noted. “That work is too important.”

“For the last 10 years, I have ignored false and misleading stories about me and focused on the work. But the cycle has gotten out of control where old lies get repeated as fact, new ones get added, and the record becomes increasingly distorted,” he added in a separate tweet. “So from time to time, I’m going to respond, not to every allegation. But when the truth matters, I’ll put the facts and supporting information out publicly, and people can judge for themselves.”

TheWrap has reached out to CNN for comment regarding its Thursday piece, entitled: “How Jared Kushner’s firm’s investment in an Israeli company could be a major conflict of interest.”

Kushner’s comments notably come as his father-in-law continues to feud with CNN over the news network’s White House press pool access.

The post Jared Kushner Accuses CNN of ‘Deeply Misleading’ Story Tying Middle East Diplomacy to Israeli Defense Companies appeared first on TheWrap.

But whether Thompson’s apparent staying power ultimately comes at Bari Weiss’ expense remains another open question.

Ellison has asked Thompson to remain CNN CEO and has discussed a new contract with him, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, with Reuters confirming the talks. The New York Times subsequently reported that the two sides are negotiating an arrangement that would keep Thompson atop CNN for at least the next year, with Weiss not expected to have editorial or operational oversight of CNN when the deal closes (as TheWrap previously reported).

The development would appear to strengthen Thompson’s hand at CNN and, at least initially, establish a boundary around Weiss’ authority. It could also ease some concerns among lawmakers, regulators and other merger critics about Ellison’s potential influence over CNN, whose editorial independence emerged as a key issue surrounding the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.

But two former senior TV news executives who spoke with TheWrap offered different interpretations of what the move could mean longer term — including whether CNN and CBS News ultimately remain separate at all.

“I wouldn’t read this as Mark winning a contest with Bari, or as a commitment to keep CNN and CBS News operating separately,” one former senior TV news executive told TheWrap. “It’s an immediate answer to a leadership question meant to bring some peace in the short term.”

A second former senior TV news executive said Thompson would need significant independence for the arrangement to work.

“To be effective, Mark would have to have complete editorial authority, and he would have to have the same reporting structure that Bari has at CBS,” the executive told TheWrap.

The second executive also said keeping Thompson at CNN does not necessarily mean CNN and CBS News will remain editorially distinct over the long term. With Paramount preparing to integrate the companies and find billions in merger cost savings, the executive argued that ultimately putting the news organizations under a single leadership structure could make more sense than maintaining two competing operations.

“If you own two separate news organizations, it makes more sense to have them both flow up within the same funnel,” the executive said, adding that cost cuts would be easier to achieve with “a single vision, rather than two competing camps vying for scarce resources.”

The financial stakes are considerable. CNN is on track to generate roughly $650 million in profit this year, according to the Times, while the combined company is expected to carry about $80 billion in debt.

That leaves Weiss as perhaps the biggest variable.

The Weiss factor

Weiss’ time at the helm of CBS News has been rocked by controversy, questions about editorial independence, layoffs, departures and ratings declines at flagship programs including “CBS Evening News” and “60 Minutes.”

The second former senior TV news executive was sharply critical of Weiss’ tenure at CBS News and argued that Ellison should put both news organizations under Thompson.

“They have an opportunity right now to declare the Bari experiment a complete bust and centralize all news under Mark,” the executive said.

That is one former executive’s assessment, not an indication that Ellison has made such a decision. There is no public indication that Paramount plans to remove Weiss. The Times reported Thursday that Weiss retains the support of the Ellison family and is expected to remain in her current role when the deal closes, though her role could eventually change. Paramount has previously said Weiss has Ellison’s “full support.”

Still, the prospect of Thompson remaining at CNN introduces a new dynamic less than a year after Ellison installed Weiss at CBS News with a mandate to overhaul the legacy news organization.

Two different paths

Thompson and Weiss represent markedly different approaches to running major news institutions. Thompson, the former director-general of the BBC and CEO of The New York Times, was brought into CNN in 2023 to steer the network through the decline of traditional cable television and build out its digital and streaming businesses. Weiss arrived at CBS News last year after Paramount acquired The Free Press and has moved aggressively to reshape the news division.

Even if CNN and CBS News maintain separate editorial leadership, the first former senior TV news executive said there are clear areas where the organizations could work together, particularly in newsgathering and international coverage.

The second executive similarly argued that Paramount leadership would need to create a culture of collaboration between CNN and CBS News even if their operations remain separate, both to pursue growth and identify potential cost savings.

That could leave Ellison with several options: maintain Thompson and Weiss as separate power centers, preserve distinct editorial operations while combining resources elsewhere, or eventually put the two organizations under a common leadership structure.

Thompson himself warned CNN employees against assuming CNN and CBS News would be combined when he addressed his future during a company town hall last week.

“I want to stay if Paramount finds me useful,” Thompson said, while telling employees that Paramount had not yet explained how it planned to run CNN after the deal closes.

The longer-term relationship between the two organizations will also be shaped by the settlement that cleared a major obstacle to Paramount’s acquisition. Under the agreement with 12 state attorneys general, Paramount must establish a five-member News Editorial Independence Board within 180 days of closing to set guiding editorial principles and resolve specified disputes involving CNN and CBS News.

But questions remain about how much independence the board will actually have. Its members will be selected by Paramount’s board of directors and Ellison, raising questions about how effectively it can serve as a check on the company’s leadership.

For Thompson, the immediate question is how much authority he can secure in a new deal. For Weiss, it is whether her mandate remains confined to CBS News. And for Ellison, retaining Thompson alongside Weiss may provide something valuable as Paramount takes control of CNN: time to decide whether two very different news operations — and two very different leaders — ultimately belong under the same boss.

The post Mark Thompson’s CNN Talks Raise the Stakes for Bari Weiss | Analysis appeared first on TheWrap.

In his ruling, the federal judge said that antitrust laws don’t apply to the AI overviews of news stories provided for articles searched on Google.

“Plaintiffs have pleaded only that they have an ‘expectation’ that Google will send them search ​traffic if they make their content available for free,” Mehta wrote. “But an expectation is not an agreement. It is simply how a general search engine works.”

Penske Media Corporation, which owns entertainment trades The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Variety as well as other publications like Rolling Stone, Gold Derby, Billboard, IndieWire and Artforum, is one of several news organizations that have sounded the alarm about the negative impact that AI overviews of articles have had on their business. Many websites have faced a drastic downturn in web traffic over recent years, arguing that Google providing AI overviews of articles has depleted clicks into their ad- and subscription-supported reporting. In the suit, PMC alleged that it has lost revenue from the new practice.

When the lawsuit was originally filed in 2025, PMC argued that Google is unlawfully leveraging its search engine by only including publishers that permit the use of their articles in AI summaries in its web search results. PMC also argued that a fifth of Google searches linked to sites also display “Overviews,” and expects that percentage to increase. The lawsuit stated Google should be required to pay publishers to summarize news articles or use them to train its AI systems without this leverage.

PMC and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chegg, an education platform that joined PMC in the lawsuit alleging Google illegally scraped its comment, also did not respond to a request for comment.

PMC will be allowed to refile its lawsuit against the tech company as it was not filed with prejudice.

The post Penske Media Lawsuit Against Google for AI Search Summaries of Articles Dismissed by Judge appeared first on TheWrap.

NBC is preparing an unprecedented amount of coverage for the Games, according to Molly Solomon, executive producer and president of programming for NBC Olympics and Paralympics, dramatically expanding its output from the last Summer Olympics held in the U.S. in Atlanta in 1996.

The staggering increase illustrates the challenge facing NBC and LA28 less than two years before the Games: staging and televising an enormously complicated global event while making it feel simple, emotional and entertaining for viewers. The two sides have spent years working together on everything from when marquee events take place to how NBC can quickly turn unfamiliar athletes into characters audiences care about.

“In 1996, we produced 171 hours on NBC — 171 total,” Solomon said during Puck and MoffettNathanson’s In the Arena conference in New York. “In 2028, we are going to program more than 100 each day on NBC and our cable networks.”

That doesn’t include Peacock offerings such as Gold Zone and individual event streams, she noted.

Wasserman offered another way to illustrate the scale, saying organizers expect roughly 1 million transportation trips per day as major competitions unfold simultaneously across Southern California.

“We’re the operational equivalent of seven Super Bowls a day for 30 days,” he said. “Go produce 200 Super Bowls in a month. Like the scale and the complexity, it requires a lot of planning. It requires a lot of logistics. It requires a lot of technical expertise.”

Wasserman has continued to lead LA28 amid controversy over emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell more than two decades ago that surfaced in the Epstein files earlier this year. The fallout led to his exit from his namesake talent and sports agency, which later rebranded as The Team, while LA28’s executive committee backed him remaining in his Olympics role.

For NBC, the challenge is getting audiences invested almost instantly in athletes they may rarely see outside the Olympics.

“We’ve got to make you care in 20 seconds or less,” Solomon said, adding that athlete profiles, announcers and new production technology will help give viewers context around competitors they may not know, making the Olympics feel as much like an entertainment show as a sports competition.

“You’re watching the most meaningful day of someone’s life every 20 minutes,” she further stated.

NBC’s influence also extends to when viewers will see those moments. The network and LA28 have been working together on the competition schedule since 2020, including efforts to keep marquee events from competing against one another.

“We got to solve for NBC first, because that is the most important thing, full stop, without exceptions,” Wasserman said.

NBC also sees LA28 as an opportunity to cultivate a new generation of Olympics fans, with Solomon pointing to Gen Z, Gen Alpha and even some millennials who missed out on years of the traditional Olympics experience during the pandemic.

For Wasserman, though, the enormous infrastructure behind the Games ultimately serves a much simpler purpose. “People get so wrapped up in all the other stuff and forget in the end what people like is the competition and the stories and the environments,” he said.

The post LA28 Chief Casey Wasserman Says Olympics Will Be ‘200 Super Bowls in a Month’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The unusual arrangement puts the administration in business with two of its most frequent media targets. Trump has repeatedly derided MS NOW’s ratings, even as his administration is paying to reach its viewers.

The government purchased 10 placements on CNN and 38 on MS NOW as part of a broader advertising campaign totaling nearly $2.87 million, according to ad-tracking data reported by The Washington Post. An MS NOW spokesman told TheWrap that spots already airing in some local markets were not overseen by the national network.

MS NOW said the ads were reviewed under Versant’s existing advertising standards, which allow advertisements expressing divergent political viewpoints. The guidelines also spell out circumstances under which ads can be rejected, including grossly offensive content and certain personal or organizational attacks.

“Accepting advertising does not influence or affect our editorial decisions or our journalism,” the spokesman told TheWrap.

The network said rejecting an otherwise permissible advertisement because of its political viewpoint could raise questions about whether those standards were being applied consistently. MS NOW has continued covering the taxpayer-funded campaign critically, including questions surrounding its purpose, funding and legality.

A CNN spokesperson indicated to TheWrap that the ad met the network’s commercial clearance guidelines and therefore has aired.

The ad buys come amid an ongoing legal battle over the networks’ White House access. CNN was again shut out of the White House TV pool Thursday, despite a federal judge temporarily restoring access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico last week. The White House also blocked CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One last weekend despite the network being scheduled to provide pool coverage, prompting the other television networks to decline to provide a substitute.

The campaign has drawn scrutiny over its cost and political messaging ahead of November’s midterm elections. The spots prominently feature Trump, while the White House has characterized them as public-service announcements promoting patriotism.

Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and George Whitesides on Thursday called for investigations into whether the campaign violates federal restrictions on using government resources for political purposes. The Department of Homeland Security transferred $20 million to the White House for the advertising campaign, according to Reuters.

FCC chairman Brendan Carr said Wednesday that the ads did not raise concerns warranting an FCC review. Trump has also defended the campaign, arguing that the spots are not election advertising because he is not on the ballot.

The post Trump Administration Buys CNN, MS NOW Ads Amid White House Feud appeared first on TheWrap.

Just in time for California AG Rob Bonta and Paramount Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim, the two key figures on each side, to unpack the resolution at TheWrap’s annual business conference TheGrill.

Both Bonta and Delrahim appeared on stage (albeit in separate panels) with The Wrap CEO and Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman, who asked the questions everyone wanted to ask.

The sessions marked a fitting capper to a remarkable and unpredictable 12 months filled with a bidding war, competing corporate egos, several false starts and a dramatic final stand with between Bonta and Paramount. In a final turn, both Delrahim and Bonta talked up the benefits of the deal.

“When you talk about jobs, an increase from 5% to 40% is massive job increases for the United States, and that’s why IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, the Teamsters, the Laborers, and the Directors Guild of America all support the settlement,” Bonta said, while “vehemently, respectfully” disagreeing with the notion that he caved under political pressure.

“It’s a deal that is pro-competitive. It’s a deal that is transformational. That’s why we committed to it,” Delrahim said. “I’m just grateful for the time and the attention and the professional work that Attorney General Bonta and his 11 other colleagues did to work with us in good faith.”

Despite Delrahim’s claims of “good faith,” there were many bumps on the road to get to the settlement, from a canceled mediation meeting over leaks to a threat by Ellison to move Paramount out of California, risking thousands of jobs and billions in economic output.

But now comes the hard part: making good on the settlement’s requirements and building what Ellison has referred to as a “stronger Hollywood.”

Below is a recap of the key takeaways from Bonta and Delrahim.

What turned the tide in reaching the settlement?

When asked about what was the turning point that made both sides reach a settlement, Bonta told TheWrap it was Paramount deciding to negotiate in good faith.

“They weren’t addressing the concerns that we had in the case,” he said. “When they finally decided to sit down and make real commitments on the issues that we cared about when it came to the antitrust enforcement case, that’s when when we settled the case.”

Meanwhile, Delrahim argued that the key to getting a settlement done was that the 12 states had no antitrust case. He said that their argument that Paramount-WBD would have a combined market share of 27% in the theatrical film market didn’t take Amazon MGM Studios, Lionsgate or A24 into account.

“Once you factor those in, that market share goes below 20%, and that’s assuming you take their time frame from ’22 to ’25 for that market share, which is based on box office revenues,” he said. “That’s just not how antitrust works. So once the facts were out before a judge, it would have never ever held up.”

“Every step of the way when you have a bad case, you’re making precedent, and as a former enforcer, it makes it more difficult for the future. So now, every time the state AGs bring a case, guess what the parties are going to do? They’re going to file the motion we filed,” he continued. “The state AGs, I think, realized there’s not a case here. Why are we doing this? And they realized that delay is not going to help anyone, which is why all the unions and everybody supported that.”

He also credited Ellison himself with getting the deal over the finish line during the Yom Kippur holiday.

“David was incredibly involved in this process himself with the staff. He and I would fly up, come down. He was personally invested and he is the single best client a lawyer can have because he’s incredibly genuine, he’s credible, and as a former producer and a guy who understands his business, he can speak with authority when asked these questions and allegations come up about different parts of the business,” he said. “It is incredible. You don’t even have to prepare because the truth actually is incredibly powerful.”

Though Delrahim said Ellison’s threat to move was “not a bluff,” he dismissed the idea that it played any major role in settling the litigation.

Bonta defends settlement, touts it as “opposite” of Disney-Fox merger

Under the terms of the settlement, Paramount-WBD is required to invest a minimum of $1.5 billion over five years in domestic TV and film production.

It also must release at least 30 films a year in theaters for two years and 32 per year for the following three years. At least four films per year must be independent films and at least 20% must be blockbusters. If Congress passes a federal film tax credit, Paramount agreed that 20% of all film production must be in the U.S. for the first two years of the merger and 30% of the next three.

Bonta told TheWrap that the film requirement is the “opposite” of the Disney-Fox merger, noting that the two companies made about 28 films per year before the combination, which would later drop to 14 films per year.

“If the federal film tax credit passes and a California film tax credit passes, it could be a 700% increase in films being made in the United States. Only about 5%, according to Paramount’s own numbers, of their total film production is made in the United States. That could get to 40%,” he added. “So when you talk about jobs, a 700% increase from 5% to 40% is massive job increases for the United States.”

Additionally, the combined company must negotiate the distribution agreements for Paramount and Warner’s suite of cable networks separately and set up an independent editorial board to oversee CNN and CBS News’ operations.

When asked about the future of CNN, news and free speech, Bonta admitted that he’s concerned about there being too much misinformation and disinformation, but argued that the editorial board would help “ensure journalistic integrity and fact-based, non-biased, objective reporting.” Similarly, Delrahim said that while he understands the political concerns around Ellison’s ownership, he does not believe that CNN and CBS News will “foreclose access” to information.

Other settlement terms include continuing to operate Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio lots for five years, honoring collective bargaining agreements with Hollywood’s unions and making community investments, including a $5 million-per-year contribution to an independent film fund and $9.5 million annually for film and TV career training and development programs to benefit qualified educational institutions and community arts organizations.

Failure to comply with the various commitments in the settlement range from a $30 million penalty per film that misses the theatrical goal to forced divestitures of the company’s 49% Miramax stake within a 12-month period as well as BET, Comedy Central, VH1, Smithsonian, Destination America and Science Channel within a 120-day period.

“The proposed consent decree reflects a settlement between the parties
that is a fair, reasonable, and good faith approach to address the competitive harms alleged in the Complaint, and does not violate the law or public policy,” Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín wrote in her order on Wednesday.

Did Bonta cave?

Despite reaching the settlement, some are concerned that the agreement does not go far enough to address the potential harms posed by the merger.

“Allowing the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to move forward with no meaningful structural remedies will cost jobs, mute creativity, weaken independent journalism, and damage our First Amendment rights. The ripples of this merger will be far-reaching, long-lasting, and impossible to contain,” the Block the Merger coalition said in a statement. “We are going to continue the fight.”

Bonta has also been accused of caving due to Ellison’s threat to move and pressure from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the Democratic nominee in California’s gubernatorial race Xavier Becerra — a claim he “vehemently and respectfully disagrees” with and said had “no influence” on the states’ decision.

“My job is to focus on the antitrust concerns and getting a resolution. So what a company may or may not do, what a governor or a next governor says or doesn’t say, has no influence,” Bonta said. “I’m the attorney general of California. I need to make a decision about the case that I brought with my 11 other attorneys general, and if we get a resolution to that case, as we did when Paramount finally came to the table in good faith, then we take it and we resolve the case.”

He added that it was ultimately a “unanimous” decision for the states to settle the case, though Connecticut AG William Tong unsuccessfully pushed for Paramount-WBD to divest CNN and CBS News during negotiations.

When asked about the political opposition surrounding the deal, Delrahim accused the Block the Merger coalition’s Norm Eisen of using the campaign against the merger as a fundraising opportunity for himself. He also doubled down on previous remarks that some who opposed the merger were antisemitic.

But when asked if there would be any retaliation against creatives who opposed the merger, Delrahim said that would be “silly.”

“We’re in the business of storytelling. We’re in the business of fulfilling consumers’ demands, and you don’t do that,” he said.

What happens now?

With the settlement now approved, the next order of business is to officially close the merger. Ellison has said the deal would close within two weeks of reaching the settlement, putting the closing date in early October.

Paramount’s Class B stock listing is expected to move from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 5 and begin trading on the NYSE on Oct. 6. Paramount would distribute warrants to purchase those shares on Oct. 13.

However, the merger is “subject to further closing conditions, and the ultimate timing for the closing of the WBD merger, if any, is not yet certain,” the company noted in a Friday SEC filing. As a result, Paramount may choose to cancel or postpone the move.

While the deal isn’t officially closed, Ellison has already started shaking up the combined company’s leadership team, tapping HBO CEO Casey Bloys to run Paramount+ and HBO Max, with Paramount Streaming head Cindy Holland exiting on Tuesday. Paramount has also recruited Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz to serve as co-CEO of the combined company.

Shares of Paramount closed at $10.33 apiece, up 3.4% at the end of Wednesday’s trading session, while WBD shares finished at $30.95 per share, up 0.32%.

The post Paramount’s Makan Delrahim, California AG Rob Bonta Get Candid on Warner Bros. Merger Settlement appeared first on TheWrap.

On Sunday, the White House listed CNN as the primary for TV pool duty on Oct. 1. This move was notable given Trump’s White House previously blocked CNN from flying aboard Air Force One on Saturday, preventing the network from carrying out its duties to cover the president on behalf of the other major networks.

However, with Trump traveling to Texas and Oklahoma Thursday, the White House released the press schedule – in which they removed CNN as the travel pool network. A representative for the White House did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

A representative for CNN confirmed to TheWrap that the network had been taken off the schedule. Additionally, the spokesperson directed TheWrap to a Monday statement from CNN’s legal representation, Ted Boutrous.

“As we have said from the beginning, the President’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the White House is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and due process,” he noted. “The President and his administration have continued to make clear that this ban has only one purpose: to punish reporting he doesn’t like. That’s retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, pure and simple. With the district court’s temporary restraining order expiring this week, it is critical to ensure that the White House continues to be prevented from implementing this unconstitutional ban on the free press.”

This statement came alongside CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s filing to extend a judge’s White House access order. In the new court documents, the outlets warned that Trump would “reinstitute a complete ban” without it.

“The White House’s words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstitute a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity,” the document noted. “Because the ban is an unlawful assault on the most fundamental First Amendment freedoms and will inflict irreparable harm on Plaintiffs and the public if not restrained, this Court should preliminarily enjoin its enforcement pending the resolution of this case.”

In response to the filing, a White House spokesperson told TheWrap, “President Trump is the most accessible President in history — holding open press events, regular gaggles and interviews, taking questions nearly every day, and speaking directly to the American people through social media. But if a reporter walks into an interview with their headline and narrative already decided, why do they need to be in the room? They can write their garbage from anywhere. Even after outlets were given access to the White House, they declined to cover various events proving this isn’t about access. It’s performative and dishonest.”

The drama all started on Sept. 18, when Trump took to Truth Social and shared that he was banning the three outlets from the White House for “constantly” writing negatively about his administration.

“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump wrote at the time. “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

Then, on Sept. 21, CNN, Politico and MS NOW sued Trump and his administration after their reporters were stripped of their White House access and credentials. However, the president stood firm in his decision in the wake of the suit, once again bemoaning in a follow-up Truth Social post that the outlets only write “negatively” about him.

Yet, last Thursday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to reinstate credentials for reporters at CNN, MS NOW and Politico. However, it wasn’t until noon that day that reporters were able to regain access.

As we mentioned, the White House then barred CNN from flying aboard Air Force One on Saturday, marking a new step in their attempt to ban the network.

The post CNN Again Shut Out of White House TV Pool Amid Credential Fight appeared first on TheWrap.

When asked about it during TheWrap’s 2026 TheGrill conference on Wednesday, Ellison’s Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim told Sharon Waxman it was “not a bluff,” but pushed back on calling it a threat and dismissed the role it may have played in turning the tide on a settlement.

“I don’t know if that factored into the state AG’s views. I don’t know for one way or the other, but it wasn’t a threat. It was not a bluff,” he said. “What’s great about competition and antitrust is that the states can compete for businesses in different states. You’ve had production going to New Jersey, New York, Georgia and they compete with California.”

Instead, he argued that the key to getting a settlement done was that the 12 states had no antitrust case. Delrahim said that their argument that Paramount-WBD would have a combined market share of 27% in the theatrical film market didn’t take Amazon MGM Studios, Lionsgate or A24 into account.

“Once you factor those in, that market share goes below 20%, and that’s assuming you take their time frame from 22 to 25 for that market share, which is based on box office revenues,” he said. “That’s just not how antitrust works. So once the facts were out before a judge, it would have never ever held up.”

“Every step of the way when you have a bad case, you’re making precedent, and as a former enforcer, it makes it more difficult for the future. So now, every time the state AGs bring a case, guess what the parties are going to do? They’re going to file the motion we filed,” he continued. “The state AGs, I think, realized there’s not a case here. Why are we doing this? And they realized that delay is not going to help anyone, which is why all the unions and everybody supported that.”

He also denied Bonta’s allegations that Paramount leaked the details of the negotiations in August, adding that what was reported was not accurate. After Bonta canceled a mediation meeting, Delrahim said that the circle of Paramount leadership involved in settlement talks narrowed to him and Ellison, as well as one attorney at Latham & Watkins who was not involved in the antitrust litigation.

After negotiating back and forth, the two sides would ultimately reach an agreement on the eve of Yom Kippur on Sept. 21 and announced the terms the following day. Delrahim said it was Ellison himself who got it over the finish line during the holiday.

“David was incredibly involved in this process himself with the staff. He and I would fly up, come down. He was personally invested and he is the single best client a lawyer can have because he’s incredibly genuine, he’s credible, and as a former producer and a guy who understands his business, he can speak with authority when asked these questions and allegations come up about different parts of the business,” he said. “It is incredible. You don’t even have to prepare because the truth actually is incredibly powerful.”

The settlement includes commitments to invest a minimum of $1.5 billion over five years in domestic TV and film production, release at least 30 films a year in theaters and negotiate the distribution agreements for each company’s suite of cable networks separately.

The combined company also must set up an independent editorial board to oversee the CNN and CBS News operations, continue to operate Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio lots for five years, honor collective bargaining agreements with Hollywood’s unions and make community investments, including a $5 million-per-year contribution to an independent film fund and $9.5 million annually for film and TV career training and development programs to benefit qualified educational institutions and community arts organizations.

Failure to comply with the various commitments in the settlement range from a $30 million penalty per film that misses the theatrical goal to forced divestitures of the company’s 49% Miramax stake within a 12-month period as well as BET, Comedy Central, VH1, Smithsonian, Destination America and Science Channel within a 120-day period.

Despite concerns that the settlement is “weak and unenforceable,” Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin signed off on the agreement, calling it a “fair, reasonable, and good faith approach” to addressing the harms alleged in the AGs’ lawsuit.

In addition to unpacking how the deal got done, Delrahim addressed the politics surrounding the deal and the concerns around CNN’s independence.

“I understand people being concerned about somebody’s views that they may not like to have any access to any type of news,” he said. “But am I concerned that this issue is the cause for concern? No. Am I concerned that CNN, CBS News will somehow foreclose access to information? I don’t.”

He accused the Block the Merger coalition’s Norm Eisen of using the opposition against the merger as a fundraising campaign for himself. He also doubled down on previous remarks that some who opposed the merger were antisemitic.

When asked if there would be any retaliation against creatives who opposed the merger, Delrahim said that would be “silly.”

“We’re in the business of storytelling. We’re in the business of fulfilling consumers’ demands, and you don’t do that,” he said.

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