Todd Blanche Grilled On DOJ’s Greenlight Of Paramount-WBD Merger

Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and his nominee to serve as attorney general, was grilled over his role in the Justice Department’s sign-off of Paramount‘s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

“I was part of that decision,” Blanche told Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) at his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

In contentious questioning, Booker pressed Blanche on whether career attorneys at the DOJ’s Antitrust Division recommend closing the investigation into the merger. Paramount cleared a major hurdle in its effort to gain government approvals when the DOJ raised no objections in a statement on June 12. The Wall Street Journal reported several days later that career staffers were leaning toward a legal challenge to the transaction, but senior leadership closed the investigation before they had a chance to raise objections.

Blanche told Booker that he had “no idea” of the views of the career attorneys on closing the investigation, to which Booker asked him, “You were in charge of that department, yet you have no idea?” Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general and previously was deputy attorney general.

“I’m not sure what the view was with respect to closing it or not closing,” Blanche said.

Booker also raised ethics issues, citing a dinner that Paramount threw in April for the Trump White House and its CBS News correspondents at the Institute of Peace.

Booker noted that “on the same say that Paramount shareholders voted to approve the emerger, David Ellison, the head of the acquiring company, hsoted a dinner that you attended honoring the president of the United States. While you were at that dinner, the DOJ was still investigating a merger. Did you speak with Mr. Ellison on that evening?”

“No,” Blanche said.

“Did you discuss with anyone involved in that organization that evening the department’s ongoing investigations?”

“No,” Blanche responded.

Booker also asked him whether his attendance at the dinner created “an appearance of impropriety.”

Booker added, “I think that’s improper. That the connected and the powerful are getting a chance to rub shoulders. It would seem appropriate that you avoid those kind of appearances and dinners like that.”

Blanche said, “Every appearance or speech I give are cleared by ethics officials.”

Booker is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee. In April, Booker held a “spotlight forum” on Capitol Hill about the merger, drawing an extensive list of opponents but no Republican lawmakers.