Ranking Member Raskin Seeks Transcribed Interview with Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison Following CEO’s Pledge to Break Silence

Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, demanded that Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison appear for a transcribed interview and answer for his Trump-enabled media consolidation spree, mounting evidence of political interference at CBS News, and plans to seize control of Warner Bros. Discovery and CNN.

This invitation comes after Ellison declared in a New York Times op-ed last week that he would remain silent “no more.” For the past 12 months, however, Ellison has stonewalled congressional oversight, ignoring four separate letters from Ranking Member Raskin seeking answers about his company’s dealings with the Trump Administration, threats to newsroom independence and the First Amendment, and efforts to amass extraordinary control over what Americans watch, read and hear. Now that Ellison has publicly promised to break his silence, Ranking Member Raskin is demanding he do so before Congress.

“Last week, in a New York Times op-ed, you pledged to tell your story and stay silent ‘no more.’ This is great news. Over the past 12 months, I have sent you four letters. You have responded to none of them. Now that you have vowed to break your long silence, I invite you to a transcribed interview to tell Congress and America your story and answer the Committee’s questions about your Donald Trump-enabled shopping spree to consolidate news organizations, movie studios, cable channels, and streaming services,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.

Ellison’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery would dramatically expand his growing media empire, putting two major movie studios, multiple streaming platforms and two of the nation’s most influential television news networks, CBS and CNN, under common control. Warner is the world’s third-largest entertainment media company, and the deal would dangerously concentrate power over American news and entertainment in a single conglomerate. State attorneys general have sued to stop the anticompetitive merger, and a federal district court has temporarily blocked the deal while that case proceeds.

Ellison’s bid to take control of CNN is especially alarming given what has already unfolded at CBS. Despite repeated promises to protect editorial independence, journalists inside CBS have described a newsroom increasingly bending to the Trump Administration’s political demands. Critical stories have reportedly been stalled, interviews pushed off the air, and reporters pressured to distort coverage of protests in Minneapolis and the killing of Renée Good to more closely resemble the Trump Administration’s false account. CBS also pulled a 60 Minutes interview before it aired in which Senator Ron Wyden presented evidence that major banks facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s illicit and illegal activities, and the reporter behind the segment was subsequently fired.

Now President Trump is openly demanding the same treatment at CNN. Trump has publicly called for both “new ownership” and changes to CNN’s programming, and Ellison appears eager to oblige, offering public “assurances” that he will make “sweeping changes to CNN.”

Ranking Member Raskin is demanding that Ellison contact Democratic Committee staff by August 26 to schedule his transcribed interview.
Click here to read the letter.