Axios reports:
President Trump said that if Americans stopped “using or subscribing” to AT&T that “big changes” might occur at CNN, which is owned by the telecommunications giant, in a Monday tweet.
The AT&T-Time Warner merger — approved earlier this year after a Justice Department attempt to block it — spurred a great deal of antitrust rhetoric from both the Trump administration and the president himself.
Trump’s tweet came as he complained that he was forced to watch CNN as “the primary source of news available from the U.S.” while in London for a state visit.
Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner @ATT do something?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019
I believe that if people stoped using or subscribing to @ATT, they would be forced to make big changes at @CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway. It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019
Trump calls for boycott of @ATT (in April @WhiteHouse would not release documents on whether he directed @TheJusticeDept to block @Att merger with Time Warner) https://t.co/DARyC2tNbh https://t.co/n4CUFY1fQl
— David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) June 3, 2019