August 07, 2025

Warren, Sanders, Wyden, Welch Warn Google and YouTube CEOs Against Breaking Anti-Bribery Laws in Potential Settlement with Trump Administration

Warren, Sanders, Wyden, Welch Warn Google and YouTube CEOs Against Breaking Anti-Bribery Laws in Potential Settlement with Trump Administration

Google faces dozens of federal labor and antitrust enforcement cases and stands to benefit from how the Trump administration proceeds in these matters.

“If YouTube settles President Trump’s dubious lawsuit in exchange for favorable action by the Trump administration in other matters, the company and its executives may be in violation of federal anti-bribery laws...”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) wrote to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, and Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, expressing concern that the companies may try to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump in exchange for favorable treatment from the Trump administration. The senators warn that this could violate federal anti-bribery laws and related state laws such as California’s Unfair Competition Law.

In 2021, President Trump sued tech companies Twitter (now X), Facebook (now Meta), and YouTube, alleging unlawful censorship after the platforms banned the President’s accounts following the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol. Although President Trump suffered significant setbacks in court in the Twitter case, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the Facebook case “meritless,” X owner Elon Musk and Zuckerberg both settled with President Trump in exchange for $10 million and $25 million, respectively.

Recent reporting indicates that Google-owned YouTube and the President’s legal team are “engaged in productive discussions” to resolve President Trump’s suit against YouTube. Pichai attended President Trump’s inauguration and has dined with him at Mar-a-Lago. Meanwhile, Google currently faces multiple open cases before federal agencies, including the Department of Justice and the National Labor Relations Board. Google stands to benefit from how the government proceeds in these matters.

In addition to the Big Tech executives, media companies have also agreed to deals to settle lawsuits brought by President Trump, including ABC News’ $15 million deal and Paramount’s recent agreement to pay $16 million to his future Presidential Library, after which the Trump administration approved Paramount and Skydance's multi-billion-dollar merger.

Senator Warren has led the charge to determine if companies are attempting to bribe President Trump in exchange for approval of their mergers and has fought relentlessly against President Trump's corruption:

On August 1, Senator Warren released a statement in response to Paramount’s 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, Senator Warren responded to the Trump administration’s approval of the Paramount-Skydance megamerger, saying “bribery is illegal no matter who is president.”
On July 23, Senator Warren published an op-ed in Variety: “Elizabeth Warren on Colbert 'Late Show' Cancellation: Is the Paramount Trump Payoff a Bribe?”
On July 21, Senators Warren, Sanders (I-Vt.), and Wyden (D-Ore.) pressed David Ellison, CEO of Skydance, about reports of a secret deal between Skydance and President Trump—and how it may be related to Paramount’s recent multi-million-dollar settlement agreement with Trump.
On July 17, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), along with Representatives Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), and lawmakers in Congress, unveiled the Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act to close loopholes that allow presidential libraries to be used as tools for corruption and bribery.
On July 15, Senator Warren released a new report exposing how companies, special interests, and foreign governments may be pledging donations to President Trump’s future Presidential Library as a corrupt tool to secure favorable outcomes from his administration.
On July 2, Senator Warren called for an investigation into Paramount’s settlement with Trump.
On May 19, Senators Warren, Sanders, and Wyden wrote to Shari Redstone, Chair of Paramount, with concerns regarding whether Paramount may be engaging in potentially illegal conduct involving the Trump Administration in exchange for approval of its megamerger with Skydance.

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