December 17, 2025

Warren, Blumenthal Demand Bondi Recuse from Warner Bros. Deal Review Amid Apparent Conflicts of Interest, Trump DOJ Cloud of Corruption

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s former lobbying firm, Ballard Partners, reportedly representing both Paramount and Netflix; advised Paramount on Skydance merger

AG Bondi’s ethics agreement includes pledge not to participate “in any particular matter involving specific parties in which (she) knows Ballard Partners is a party or represents a party” until February 4

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to recuse herself from the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s review of any Warner Bros. merger due to potential conflicts of interest related to her former employer, lobbying firm Ballard Partners. A DOJ spokesperson has indicated that Bondi will lead the Trump administration’s review of the merger, alongside DOJ Antitrust head Gail Slater.

Prior to her nomination for Attorney General, Bondi spent six years as a lobbyist at Ballard Partners, a favorite firm among companies with business before the Trump administration. Since Bondi’s nomination as Attorney General, Ballard has taken on both Netflix and Paramount as clients. Disclosures from as recently as October confirm that Ballard continues to lobby for both companies, and the lobby shop was reportedly involved in the Paramount-Skydance merger earlier this year. Now, as both Netflix and Paramount vie for Warner Bros., Bondi is set to have significant involvement in the Trump administration’s review of either deal.

“In line with our anti-corruption oversight and legislative priorities, and given the cloud of corruption surrounding this merger and your former employer Ballard’s potential role in this merger, we ask that you recuse yourself from the review of this purchase,” wrote the lawmakers.

Giant corporations appear to be using Ballard Partners as a tool to curry favor with the Trump administration. Reports have revealed that among the clients for whom Ballard reported lobbying DOJ this year, all but one signed with the firm since Trump’s election and Bondi’s nomination for attorney general, and that the company recently had its most lucrative quarter ever reported.

Ballard is already enmeshed in the cloud of corruption surrounding the White House. Reports revealed that Ballard lobbyists were instrumental in connecting their corporate clients with fundraisers for President Donald Trump’s ballroom, and nearly half of the corporations known to be funding the ballroom—11 out of 26 publicly reported corporate donors—are Ballard’s clients.

This is not the first time Ballard’s involvement has raised questions of improper influence in DOJ deal reviews. In July, AG Bondi’s DOJ dropped its challenge to the $570 million merger between American Express Global Business Travel and CWT Holdings after Amex GBT paid Ballard Partners to lobby the DOJ on antitrust matters. This followed the DOJ's decision to abruptly settle, just days before trial, its case to block HPE from acquiring Juniper Networks. A senior Trump administration official who was fired in the wake of this scandal raised alarm about “companies … hiring lawyers and influence peddlers to bolster their MAGA credentials and pervert traditional law enforcement” and warned that the DOJ is “now overwhelmed with lobbyists with little antitrust expertise going above the antitrust division leadership seeking special favors with warm hugs.”

Federal regulations require government employees to maintain a basic public service obligation to avoid any actions that would so much as create the appearance of violating the law. Bondi signed an Ethics Agreement pledging not to participate “in any particular matter involving specific parties in which (she) knows Ballard Partners is a party or represents a party” for one year after confirmation, until February 4, 2026. But even after the February deadline, Bondi’s involvement in the Netflix-Paramount matter would raise the appearance of serious impropriety and threaten to violate her obligations as a public servant.

“DOJ must guarantee that any review of a potential Warner Bros. transaction is decided based upon the law, not perverted by political favoritism and cronyism—particularly given the stakes of this case for consumers. Regardless of which of these two giant media conglomerates wins the bid for Warner Bros., a takeover will further consolidate the media market—risking higher prices and less variety for consumers,” wrote the lawmakers.

The lawmakers’ call for Bondi’s recusal follows a long pattern of ethics concerns surrounding the potential Warner Bros. deal. Donald Trump recently confirmed he would be “involved” in the ongoing Warner Bros. bidding war and suggested CNN should be sold as part of any deal, raising the specter of the President leveraging a possible merger to censor a prominent news network that he has openly criticized. Paramount’s bid reportedly includes funding from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, including Saudi Arabia.

Previously, Paramount donated $16 million to the Trump Presidential Library to settle a lawsuit by President Trump, and CEO David Ellison reportedly agreed to a secret “side deal” to run millions of dollars of Trump-friendly ads. The Ellison family reportedly has the ear of President Trump and has allegedly engaged in conversations with the White House. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has also reportedly worked to obtain President Trump’s approval, meeting with him at least twice.

Senator Warren has long sounded the alarm on antitrust concerns and apparent political favoritism in the Trump administration’s handling of media mergers:

  • On December 16, Senators Warren and Blumenthal raised national security concerns related to potential Middle Eastern funding of the Warner Bros. sale and pushed Treasury Secretary and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) Scott Bessent to conduct a CFIUS review.
  • On December 16, Senator Warren pushed the FCC and the DOJ to closely scrutinize Nexstar's acquisition of Tegna and to block the deal if they determine that it violates federal telecommunications or antitrust laws.
  • On December 8, Sen. Warren called Paramount’s hostile bid a “five-alarm antitrust fire.”
  • On December 5, Senator Warren responded to news of Netflix’s winning bid for Warner Bros., calling it an “anti-monopoly nightmare.”
  • On November 21, while on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Senator Warren called out Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison on his own network.
  • On November 19, Senator Warren led Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in writing to U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, warning that a potential Warner Bros. deal could be tainted by political favoritism and corruption.
  • On August 1, Senator Warren released a statement in response to Paramount and Skydance’s responses to her letters to each of the companies, describing the responses as “dodgy” and calling for “a full, independent investigation” into whether the companies or their executives engaged in any criminal behavior connected to the approval of the companies’ multi-billion-dollar merger.
  • On July 24, Sen. Warren responded to the Trump administration’s approval of the Paramount-Skydance merger, saying, “Bribery is illegal no matter who is president.”
  • On February 20, Sen. Warren urged the DOJ to closely scrutinize the proposed Disney-Fubo deal and warned of increased costs for TV viewers.

###