House Democrats are pressing forward with an inquiry into potential bribery by Paramount-Skydance as it pursued a multibillion-dollar merger approved by Trump’s Federal Communications Commission last month.
In a letter sent Thursday to Paramount-Skydance CEO David Ellison, Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Frank Pallone of New Jersey demand documents related to the Trump administration’s communications with company officials as the merger awaited approval by Project 2025 co-author and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. They write:
Four weeks ago, after months of delay, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved what on August 7, 2025, became an $8 billion merger between your company, Skydance Media, LLC (Skydance), and Paramount Global (Paramount). Alarmingly, the FCC’s decision came only after Skydance and Paramount agreed to provide millions of dollars in payments and free services to Donald Trump himself and millions to support his future presidential library respectively. Further, as a condition of the merger, it appears Skydance has agreed to install someone to police CBS’s editorial decisions, promising to conduct a ‘comprehensive review of CBS’ and to appoint an ‘ombudsman’ to root out ‘bias.’
Trump has claimed that the settlement of his lawsuit against CBS, over edits made to a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, included millions of dollars in free advertising, in addition to $16 million Paramount committed to funding his presidential library. Paramount officials have denied that there is any arrangement beyond the legal settlement, according to a recent New York Times report.
Paramount-Skydance did not respond immediately to MSNBC’s request for comment.
The Democrats also want information about the company’s decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “which President Trump openly dislikes, shortly after Mr. Colbert’s on-air criticism of Paramount’s settlement as a ‘big fat bribe.’”
Carr himself celebrated the “Late Show” cancellation after it was announced and avoided giving a straight answer when a Fox News host asked him whether Trump was involved in any way. Trump’s chairman has shown a willingness to politicize the merger review process with his vow to block mergers involving companies with policies that promote diversity. He’s also weaponized the commission against media outlets that Trump and other conservatives have criticized. Later in their letter, Raskin and Pallone also sound the alarm on private conversations that Ellison, the Skydance CEO, reportedly had with Trump before the merger was announced. Specifically they demand Ellison and Paramount-Skydance turn over any documents — including communications company officials may have had with one another, with Trump Organization officials, with the FCC or with other members of the Trump administration — related to the settlement or the merger. They also seek clarification on whether Paramount-Skydance plans to offer any free services to Trump, as he’s alleged. The Democrats say the allegations, if true, “would likely further embolden President Trump to use lawsuits and regulatory authority to attack media organizations that he finds objectionable in order to silence them,” and that “these actions by Paramount would also be illegal, running afoul of federal and state anti-bribery statutes.” A separate probe into possible bribery has been launched by officials in California.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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