President Trump’s animus toward CNN was a cloud hanging over the AT&T trial — never discussed during the six-week trial but constantly discussed outside of the courtroom.
Tuesday’s unambiguous ruling has rekindled the conversation. In a statement, Time Warner spokesman Gary Ginsberg was blunt on the issue, calling the case “political in its motivation.”
“The Court’s resounding rejection of the government’s arguments is confirmation that this was a case that was baseless, political in its motivation and should never have been brought in the first place,” Ginsberg said.
There was widespread speculation before the trial began that the Justice Department’s lawsuit against AT&T’s $85 billion bid to take over Time Warner was at least partially motivated by politics. But the Justice Department repeatedly denied that its suit was influenced by Trump.
Before and during the trial, AT&T and Time Warner executives were careful not to make too many accusations about Trump. Lawyers for the two companies did not bring him or the possibility of political motivation up during the trial, after the judge blocked discovery on certain White House communications that they were seeking.
But “in light of this extremely comprehensive…
