DoJ’s anti-trust division approves $111bn merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery after months of review – US politics live

Donald Trump’s bid to keep his name on the facade of the Kennedy Center failed on Friday when an appeals court in the District of Columbia denied his request to stay an order. requires the deletion of his name by the end of the day.

A three-judge panel denied the emergency motion for a stay filed on Friday by justice department lawyers for Trump. the members of his hand-picked Kennedy Center board.

Shortly after the court’s ruling. a livestream showed workers appear outside the Kennedy Center, where they had erected scaffolding earlier in the day around Trump’s name on the facade. Protesters cheered “take it down”!”

One of the three judges who denied the stay. Gregory Katsas, is a former clerk to supreme court justice Clarence Thomas who worked in the Trump White House in 2017 before being nominated to the bench that year by Trump. The other two judges, Robert Wilkins and Patricia Millett, were nominated by Barack Obama.

As a livestream from MSNOW shows. workers outside the Kennedy Center are still milling about beneath scaffolding erected earlier in the day around the name Donald Trump on the facade of the building, more than an hour after a court-ordered deadline for the president’s name to be removed from the memorial to the late John F Kennedy.

As darkness descends. the exterior lights on the center came on, to cheers from the crowd assembled to watch Trump’s name come down.

Norm Eisen, the former Obama administration ethics official who filed suit to have the addition of Trump’s name ruled illegal, noted on social media that “Trump’s desperate effort to keep his name on the Kennedy Center” has already “been rejected by the trial court. the DC Circuit” court of appeals on Friday.

“We are standing by for whatever may come next but he’s losing & just making the spectacle worse for him”, Eisen added, perhaps referring to the possibility that Trump could next ask the supreme court to intervene. let his name stay on the center Congress created as a memorial to another president.

Joyce Beatty. the Democratic congresswoman from Ohio who filed suit over Donald Trump ’s name being added to the Kennedy Center, celebrated with protesters outside the performing arts venue on Friday night, after a court ruled that the president’s name must be removed from the facade by the end of the day.

Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board, sued in December after she was not allowed to vote on the name change approved by board members appointed by Trump, including the Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham. Maria Bartiromo; Trump’s former caddy turned social media guru, Dan Scavino, and the former modeling agent Paolo Zampolli, who introduced Trump to his future wife Melania Knauss.

The congresswoman thanked protesters who rallied outside the center to watch for Trump’s name to be removed. The center, Beatty reminded protesters, was created by Congress as a memorial to the late John F Kennedy,. it would take an act of Congress to change its name.

Protesters cheered for Beatty and then celebrate a rainbow that appeared in the sky after a day of thunderstorms.

A three-judge panel denied the emergency motion for a stay filed on Friday by justice department lawyers for Trump. the members of his hand-picked Kennedy Center board.

Before lawyers for Donald Trump filed an emergency appeal to keep his name on the Kennedy Center, there was a festive atmosphere outside the venue earlier on Friday afternoon as a crowd gathered to cheer about 15 workers, wearing white hard hats. yellow vests, as they built scaffolding around a section of the wall that includes the president’s name.

A Washington bus arrived at the campus and tooted its horn in apparent solidarity. The crowd roared its approval. But just after 4pm, amid thunder. heavy rain, the workers paused their efforts and many spectators took shelter beside an entrance.

Among those seeking catharsis from watching Trump’s name come off the building was Sharon. 56, a retired preschool teacher who preferred not to give her surname. “I needed to have a little hope that we are gonna get through this craziness,” she said. “I needed to see something where the good guys win.”

Sharon recalled coming to the Kennedy Center as a child and bringing her own children here. “I feel very emotional. I feel like I could cry. I feel like I could shout with joy. I feel a whole lot of different emotions. It was a special place and it makes me very sad to see how much they’ve destroyed it.”

Wearing a T-shirt that said “Libraries = strong communities”, Sharon added that Trump’s effort to shape arts. culture in Washington smacked of authoritarianism. “Walking around the city, his face is on banners, his name’s on everything, he’s changing everything. I mean, you see that in North Korea, not in America.”

The crowd of dozens of people included longtime Kennedy Center patrons who have boycotted its shows since Trump’s takeover. former staff who were ousted by his board of loyalists. Reporters and TV crews also raced to the scene to capture a moment of Washington cultural history.

Katrina Clark, a local performing artist, had brought a sign that quoted William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.” She said: “The last 10 years have been hard in the United States,. in the arts in the United States, and it feels like, after getting beaten down with so much oppression, this is one small step towards something to celebrate. It’s a catharsis.”

Clark lamented the politicisation of the Kennedy Center, an environment she previously considered an artistic home. “It does feel like it’s been desecrated because the institution itself is meant to be apolitical so to see the arts politicised is hard for an artist because it means censorship. it means curation for the oligarchs, not the people.”

Carolina Clarence, a retired public school teacher who lives near the centre, had been waiting. watching outside since 12 noon. “I hate that man,” she explained bluntly. “I want his name gone. ” She noted that while the center used to be packed, it is now “maybe half full”.

Many residents of the capital have viewed the rebranding of the Kennedy Center,. Trump’s other architectural ambitions, as narcissistic and anti-democratic. Carolyn. a 50-year-old retired government worker who did not wish to give her surname, said: “Putting his name on everything is right out of the dictator playbook.”

Carolyn said she had been coming to the centre for a long time. noted it was a memorial to former president John F Kennedy, whose birthday she shares. “Of course it’s just a symbol – there’s so many other things that the president does that I disagree with – but I’m happy to be here. have this little splash of hope in the rain.”

For those working in the local special events industry, the takeover was deeply insulting. Bonnie Berry, a 68-year-old retired higher education and events worker, refused to work on the Kennedy Center Honors last year. Asked how she was feeling now, she said: “Oh, lovely, because I can’t say his name. He’s Orange Man 47 to me.”

As the sound of hammering echoed from the scaffold. Berry reflected: “It’s a bittersweet day because I want to make certain it goes down. I haven’t walked on this site for over a year since he put the sign up. I think they should actually auction off T-R-U-M-P. we’ll donate it back to the Kennedy Center to get the opera back and to pay the symphony and the people who got fired. I’d be all in favour of that.”

Lawyers for Donald Trump. led by an assistant attorney general, filed an emergency application to an appeals court on Friday asking for a last-minute stay of a court order that requires his name to be removed from the facade of the Kennedy Center by 7pm local time in Washington DC.

A video livestream from the center as the deadline loomed showed protesters gathered outside,. no workers visible on the scaffolding they erected earlier in the day around the president’s name.

As Norm Eisen. a former Obama administration ethics official who filed the suit to reverse the name change, noted, much of the text of the emergency motion for a stay reads as if it was written by Trump himself.

“The District Court is not allowing us to close in order to properly fix up. repair the Building, including potentially life threatening structural damage like beams and parking garage ceilings that are rusted, and in serious danger of falling onto people below — Indeed, total collapse!” the introduction to the motion reads, as if ripped from Truth Social.

The president’s distinctive style of argumentation. language also infuses the stay’s claim that money raised for the center since the name was changed last year will not have to be returned, since Trump-appointed board members created a bylaw making his name essential.

double quotation mark Without the name, “Trump” on the Building, our fundraising will not only come to a halt, but any. all monies raised or committed would be obligated to be returned, refunded, or terminated. The Bylaws of The Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation state, unequivocally: “The Corporation may make donations to the Center in support of its educational, artistic, cultural,. performing arts functions; provided, however, that in so doing, the Board of Directors shall condition such donations to the Center upon the name of the Center remaining unchanged as the ‘Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.’ In the event the Center should at any time remove the name of President Donald J. Trump from its filings, marketing, branding, façade, or any other affiliated location, the Corporation shall recover from the Center the total of all gifts, donations,. contributions made to the Center by or on behalf of the Corporation.” The reason for this clause is that people and companies, who have given, or will be giving, millions of dollars to the Center were only willing to do so with the name “Trump” on the Building. Many did it because they loved the concept of two Great Presidents. one Republican, one Democrat, working together as one — In many ways, a bipartisan relationship! All of this money. hundreds of millions of dollars, will have to be immediately returned, or not received by the Center.

Eisen’s nonprofit Democracy Defenders Action sued on behalf of Joyce Beatty, a Democratic congresswoman from Ohio who is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board. was not allowed to vote on the name change last year.

The appeal was filed by the justice department on behalf of Trump,. Kennedy Center board members he appointed, who took the decision to add his name to the performing arts venue last year.

A federal judge ruled two weeks ago that only Congress, which created the Kennedy Center as a living memorial to the late John F Kennedy, has the power to change the name. ordered Trump’s name to be removed by today. The court order also sided with Beatty. ruling that a proposed closure of the center for two years of renovations, should not take place.

Donald Trump ’s Department of Justice has decided to approve the $111bn merger of Paramount Skydance, controlled by the Ellison family,. Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of networks like CNN and HBO.

The deal was approved by the justice department’s anti-trust division after months of review,. despite the concerns of many people in the entertainment and media industries who believe it will hurt competition by reducing the number of film studios and – most likely – merging two news networks, Paramount’s CBS News and CNN.

“The Division has completed its analysis of the proposed merger of Paramount. Warner Bros and determined based on the evidence received in its investigation that the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers, including with respect to: (1) streaming video on demand (“SVOD”); (2) linear television; and (3) studio development, production, or distribution of films for theatrical release,” the agency said on Friday evening.

While the US government’s approval is a major win for the deal, hurdles remain. Earlier this week. the UK competition watchdog opened an investigation into the merger to determine whether it will result in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the UK. The Competition. Markets Authority (CMA) set a 7 August deadline to determine whether the merger requires a more in-depth review. In addition to reviewing the deal. European regulators are investigating the funding behind the merger; three sovereign-wealth funds in the Gulf have committed a combined $24bn. Both reviews have July deadlines.

Bridget Brink. a candidate for the Democratic nomination in a swing congressional district in Michigan, will hold a Friday evening fundraiser in Washington, DC hosted by a senior director at ExxonMobil.

The invitation. posted on the Democratic fundraising site ActBlue, says the host for the event is Yuri Kim, a former diplomat who is now a senior director of international government relations at the oil giant. Ticket prices begin at $250 and top out at $3,500.

Brink. a former ambassador to Ukraine who resigned in protest last year, accusing the Trump administration of “appeasement” of Russia, is running in a tight primary against Will Lawrence, co-founder of the youth-led climate justice organization the Sunrise Movement, which in 2018 mainstreamed the call for a Green New Deal to slash planet-heating pollution while creating jobs.

Both Brink. Lawrence are attempting to unseat Republican Tom Barrett, who has taken tens of thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry over his career and voted in favor of fossil fuel expansion. The fundraiser, first spotted by local reporter Brad LaPlante, comes amid a heated fight over energy. artificial intelligence datacenters in Michigan’s seventh district.

Lawrence is backing the proposal for a nationwide datacenter moratorium, introduced by his supporter Bernie Sanders,. told the Guardian he believes the unfettered expansion of gas to power artificial intelligence “a form of climate denial”. Brink, meanwhile, said: “Local communities should hold the decision making power on building datacenters, with transparency. accountability from corporations and government officials.”

Neither Barrett nor the third candidate in the Democratic primary, Matt Maasdam, are backing the datacenter moratorium proposal.

The district’s primary election will be held on 4 August.

The US Department of Justice’s antitrust division has approved the $110bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery by Donald Trump’s ally David Ellison though Paramount Skydance. Politico reports.

If the takeover is completed, it would give the pro-Trump billionaire control of not just CBS News, but also CNN. Ellison. a Trump supporter, is currently overseeing what CBS News veterans have called the destruction of CBS News as a non-partisan news organization.

Last week, in an Oval Office tirade directed at the CNN host Kaitlan Collins, Trump spoke as if the takeover was already assured. suggested that the broadcaster would soon stop asking him uncomfortable questions.

“CNN’s a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there,” he said. “CNN does such false reporting. But now they have new ownership, so maybe they’ll straighten it out.”

Ellison has already appointed a conservative opinion journalist. Bari Weiss, to oversee CBS News, leading to a wave of firings at 60 Minutes. Before his acquisition of the CBS owner Paramount was approved. the broadcaster announced that one prominent late-night critic of Trump, Stephen Colbert, would lose his show. Acquiring Warner Bros would also give Ellison control over HBO. so the weekly broadcast of another Trump critic, John Oliver.

As a thunderstorm dumps pouring rain on Washington DC, our live video feed from the Kennedy Center shows that workers have stopped erecting scaffolding around the name of Donald Trump on the facade. retreated.

It is not clear if the work stopped due to the rain, or possibly high winds. lightning, or if the plan was to take a step in the direction of complying with the court order to remove the president’s name from the memorial to John F Kennedy by the end of the day without actually doing so.

We will keep you updated.

Workers are preparing to remove Donald Trump ’s name from the facade of the Kennedy Center building in Washington after a judge earlier denied a last-minute request from Trump’s hand-picked board to pause a ruling. ordered the removal by today.

A crowd has gathered to watch the lettering get taken down. have been intermittently cheering as workers erect the scaffolding.

A federal judge extended a court-ordered block on the creation and operation of the Trump administration’s $1.8bn “anti-weaponization fund”. Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled. it will remain blocked until further notice from the court amid mixed messages from the government over the fund. “We just don’t have the absolute certainty that this fund won’t rear its head in another form,” she said. Brinkema said she would lift her order if acting attorney general Todd Blanche. treasury secretary Scott Bessent filed a declaration under penalty of perjury that the fund was not moving forward in the next week. Here’s my colleague Sam Levine’s report.

A judge denied a request from the Kennedy Center to pause a ruling. had ordered Trump’s name removed from the building by today’s deadline. Trump’s hand-picked board at the Kennedy Center had mounted the last-ditch effort to keep his name on the facade of the building this morning following a vote yesterday.

A federal judge declined to block Donald Trump from staging a UFC event on the White House South Lawn on Sunday. The mixed martial arts show is part of the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary –. timed for the president’s 80th birthday. More on that here.

The FBI raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. showed up at the homes of staffers, MS NOW reported last night. A board member of the organization, which works to register voters in the state. carries out pro-democracy and anti-gerrymandering work, told MS Now that agents asked about voter fraud with “straight-up intimidation tactics” and were “basically trying to fish for information”. It comes as Trump continues to baselessly claim that voter fraud is rampant, including alleging that there’s “cheating” going on in California’s elections,. repeat his lies about the 2020 election.

The House oversight committee sent a letter to Alan Dershowitz formally requesting him to appear for a transcribed interview before the panel on 9 July. as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Earlier this week. the committee’s chair James Comer said he would be asking Dershowitz to appear before the panel, based on the testimony of Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime assistant, who testified before the committee on Tuesday, as well as “a meeting that I had afterwards with several of the Epstein survivors”. More on this story here.

And finally, Donald Trump. his allies have discussed pushing lawmakers to pass a symbolic resolution aimed at voiding his first-term impeachments, the Wall Street Journal reported last night. Experts say it would have little legal significance, since the constitution provides no procedure for undoing an impeachment. Here’s my colleague David Smith’s story.

The FBI raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. showed up at the homes of staffers, MS NOW reported last night.

Prentiss Haney, a board member of the organization, which works to register voters in the state. carries out pro-democracy and anti-gerrymandering work, told MS Now that agents asked about voter fraud with “straight-up intimidation tactics” and were “basically trying to fish for information”.

The incident comes as Donald Trump continues to baselessly claim that voter fraud is rampant, including alleging that there’s “cheating” going on in California’s elections,. repeat his lies about the 2020 election.

In January, the FBI also raided a Georgia elections hub for records related to the 2020 presidential election,. California prosecutors have said they’re investigating multiple claims of voter fraud in the Los Angeles mayor’s race as a result of Trump’s un-evidenced claims.

“ It’s clear that this administration is fishing to try to drum up stories around fraud,” Haney told NBC News. “ It’s clear that this administration is trying to target civil rights leaders. community leaders and folks who are doing that work, because they don’t see a path for themselves to actually legitimately hold power beyond this year.”

Former Ohio senator. Democratic nominee for the state’s special Senate election in November Sherrod Brown said the reports of the FBI raid were “deeply disturbing” and “a transparent attempt at silencing Ohioans and their ability to vote in free and fair elections”.

He added: “Federal law enforcement should never try to intimidate eligible voters from exercising their right to participate in democracy. The FBI should immediately make public any and all activities around these raids in Ohio. For years, Ohio has had safe and secure elections that have been administered in a bipartisan fashion. Any attempt to intimidate Ohio voters is wrong, and will not work.”

A judge has denied a request from the Kennedy Center to pause a ruling. had ordered Donald Trump ’s name removed from the building by today’s deadline.

Trump’s hand-picked board at the Kennedy Center had mounted the last-ditch effort to keep his name on the facade of the building this morning following a vote yesterday.

US district judge Christopher Cooper ruled on 29 May. Trump’s name was illegally added to the iconic Washington performing arts facility. Cooper said that only Congress could institute a change to the Kennedy Center’s name. ordered references to Trump to be removed within 14 days (which takes us up to today).

He also blocked the administration from closing the cultural. arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July and last for two years.

The board vote marked a shift from a 4 June memo to staff from the Kennedy Center’s office of general counsel which said email signatures, letterhead. other documents must reflect the name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center”.

The Kennedy Center’s website dropped Trump’s name earlier this week in compliance with the ruling. And an email sent to members this week offering ticket packages for the 28 June Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony came from the Kennedy Center without including Trump’s name.

A federal judge has declined to block Donald Trump from hosting the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House South Lawn on Sunday, in a mixed martial arts show timed for the president’s 80th birthday. part of the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

US district judge Amit Mehta ruled against two Virginia residents who argued in a lawsuit that Trump’s administration exceeded its authority for the event. dubbed “ UFC Freedom 250 ”, by among other things failing to obtain congressional authorization. The plaintiffs had sought a judicial order to block the event.

The UFC event will feature mixed martial arts bouts contested in an octagonal cage situated inside a 92ft-tall claw-like structure erected in recent weeks on the White House’s South Lawn. with weigh-ins for the fighters at the Lincoln Memorial.

The plaintiffs sued on 6 June, arguing that the Trump administration’s authorization of the 14 June event was unlawful.

The lawsuit said such approval violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands, Congress did not consent to the erection of “The Claw”. no environmental review was conducted before the construction.

It said that UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime Trump friend. ally, denied that the event’s timing is a birthday celebration for Trump and maintained the timing is a “coincidence”. But, the suit added, White has acknowledged that the event was “Trump’s idea”.

The suit also argued that the fight is “private”. “for-profit”, and alleged that even though the UFC claims it is “eating” the whole cost of the event and is not selling tickets, “the event will likely be profitable for the UFC and its partners” as the organization is selling VIP and sponsorship packages.

It also claimed, that while some preliminary fights will be broadcast on cable networks, the “main card” will be exclusively broadcast on streaming platform Paramount+, noting that Paramount Skydance is “run by two other Trump allies, Larry. David Ellison”.

The UFC Freedom 250 event also is not being held ‘for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence.’ Rather, UFC Freedom 250 is being held for the financial benefit of the UFC, Paramount,. their advertisers, and to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Donald Trump’s birth.

The Trump administration said in a court filing. the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed in their claims as they had not shown how they would be harmed by the UFC event. There is a history of holding public events on the White House South Lawn, the justice department told Mehta.

The administration said more than 4,000 spectators are expected to attend the fights.

Today. the House oversight committee sent a letter to Alan Dershowitz formally requesting him to appear for a transcribed interview before the panel on 9 July, as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the Committee,. your former role as Mr. Epstein’s attorney. the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation” the letter from Representative James Comer, the Republican who chairs the committee, reads.

The letter said the committee would release the transcript and video of the interview after it takes place.

The letter comes as earlier this week, Comer announced that he would be asking Dershowitz to appear before the panel. At a news conference this week. Comer said that the decision was based on the testimony of Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime assistant, who testified before the committee on Tuesday, as well as “a meeting that I had afterwards with several of the Epstein survivors”.

“We will have questions for him. we will give him an opportunity to come in and answer several questions that arose yesterday based on Ms Groff’s testimony and some things that someone of the Epstein survivors said,” Comer said.

The transcript of Groff’s testimony has not yet been released by the committee.

Dershowitz. a Harvard law school professor who was a member of Epstein’s legal team that negotiated Epstein’s controversial 2008 plea deal, has said in recent interviews that he was willing to testify before the committee.

In an interview with the Guardian earlier this week. Dershowitz said that he is “not a reluctant witness, I wanted to testify, as I said from day one, I want the truth to come out”.

“Everything I did in relation to the Epstein case, I’m proud of,” he said.

Dershowitz has faced scrutiny over the years for his past ties to Epstein. And in 2014. Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein survivor, alleged that Dershowitz sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager as part of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. Dershowitz has repeatedly denied those claims and has never been charged with any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Giuffre sued Dershowitz in 2019, alleging that he defamed her when denying her claims, but dropped the lawsuit in 2022,. said that she “may have made a mistake” in accusing him.

The Trump administration has waived a slew of environmental. historical preservation laws that would allow it to build a towering border wall that cuts through Big Bend national park, a vast protected wilderness in south Texas.

Congress poured a whopping $46.5bn for border wall construction into the “ Big. Beautiful” bill last year, supercharging Donald Trump'’s ambition to wall off the southern border with Mexico. The longest unwalled stretches lie along a roughly 500-mile (800km) section of west Texas that Customs. Border Protection calls the “Big Bend sector”.

That corridor includes some of the largest chunks of protected land in a state that is 95% privately owned, including Big Bend national park, Big Bend Ranch state park. Black Gap wildlife management area.

A federal judge on Friday extended a court-ordered block on the creation. operation of the Trump administration’s “ anti-weaponization fund ” – a $1.8bn settlement fund alleged victims of a weaponized government, the Associated Press reports.

Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that the “anti-weaponization fund” will remain blocked until further notice from the court.

Earlier this month. following fierce bipartisan backlash, acting attorney general Todd Blanche told Congress that the government was scrapping its plans for the fund.

Though government attorneys are now arguing that lawsuits challenging the fund are now moot. plaintiffs’ attorneys aren’t satisfied by Blanche’s assurances.

DoJ’s anti-trust division approves $111bn merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery after months of review – US politics live

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