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Raskin accuses Paramount CEO of colluding with Trump

August 12, 2026

Jamie Raskin sent Paramount CEO David Ellison a letter accusing him of colluding with President Trump as the company seeks to close a $110 billion Warner Bros. merger.

TheWrap and CNN report a letter from Jamie Raskin, the House Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat, to David Ellison, who runs Paramount. In it, Raskin accuses the executive of joining with President Trump to “curtail media independence, spread political censorship, and suppress dissent” while Paramount tries to finish a Warner Bros. deal valued at $110 billion. Politico carries the same account and treats the letter as a sharpening of Raskin's pressure on the transaction. Because the material barely varies from outlet to outlet, the letter itself appears to be driving the coverage.

Deadline supplies the concrete demand, reporting that Raskin wants Ellison to sit for an interview about the tie-up between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN, with corroboration from TheWrap, explains why the timing gives the letter leverage. Its court position weak, Paramount has committed to leave the deal unclosed until a trial happens, with June 1, 2027 as the outer date, so Raskin's scrutiny arrives while the transaction idles rather than after it is done.

The outlets weight the event differently without disagreeing on it. TheWrap and Deadline, writing for the entertainment industry, play up what the clash means for media ownership, while Politico reads it as a congressional move, and each version stands on identical facts. Settled are the letter, its charge against Ellison, the deal's $110 billion value, and the pause Paramount accepted in court. Open are Ellison's reply and Raskin's next move if no interview materializes.

Still developing

The response from Ellison and Paramount has not appeared in the coverage, and Deadline's report that Raskin wants an interview with the executive leaves the timing and format of any sitting unconfirmed. The trial Paramount agreed to await carries no date in the record beyond the June 1, 2027 outer limit.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 100% · Contested 0% · Developing 0%

Sources