By Canadian Press

Trump, in tussle with CNN, suggests boycott of parent AT&T

Jun 3, 2019 | 11:30 AM

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday to reiterate his complaints about CNN and suggest a boycott of its parent company, AT&T.

Soon after his arrival in London for a pomp-filled state visit to Britain, Trump tweeted that CNN is his chief source of such reports but that “after watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S.”

Trump asked why doesn’t AT&T “do something” and said that if people stopped using or subscribing to AT&T, it would be forced to make “big changes” at CNN. CNN is owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of AT&T’s WarnerMedia.

AT&T and CNN declined to comment.

Trump has long criticized CNN over its coverage of him and his administration. Fox News Channel is his preferred network.

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The extension of Trump’s CNN complaints to its parent company is unusual but not surprising. When AT&T’s bid for then-CNN owner Time Warner Inc. became public in 2016, it drew fire from then-candidate Trump, who promised to kill it “because it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.”

After he became president, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against AT&T and Time Warner to block the proposed deal, arguing it would hurt consumers . A judge ultimately ruled in favour of letting the $81 billion acquisition continue and it was completed in June 2018. The Department of Justice lost an appeal in February . The department declined to appeal further to the Supreme Court, where its chances of prevailing were considered dim.

The Associated Press