Hillary Clinton is calling for close scrutiny of AT&T's $85 billion attempt to buy Time Warner, the owner of CNN, HBO and Warner Bros, joining a chorus of Democrats and Republicans raising questions about one of the largest acquisitions ever in the media industry.

"We think that marketplace competition is a good and healthy thing for consumers and so there’s a number of questions and concerns that arise in that vein about this announced deal," Clinton spokesperson Brian Fallon told BuzzFeed News. "But there’s still a lot of information that needs to come out before any conclusions should be reached. But certainly she thinks that regulators should scrutinize it closely.”



Less than 24 hours after AT&T announced the deal, the merger is coming under pressure from both sides of the political divide.

Several key figures — including Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, and Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders and Al Franken — have voiced opinions on the deal that range from skepticism to outright opposition.



At a speech in Pennsylvania Saturday, Trump said he opposed the deal before it had even been officially announced.

“AT&T is buying Time Warner, and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few," Trump said, calling the deal "an example of the power structure I'm fighting."

He also said he would not have approved Comcast's 2011 takeover of NBC/Universal, which was the biggest merger between a media distributor and producer so far. (NBCUniversal is an investor in BuzzFeed).

In a statement Sunday, the Trump campaign said he will take aggressive action against media conglomerates like Time Warner, owner of "the wildly anti-Trump CNN," complaining that they "intrude into our personal lives, and in this election, are attempting to unduly influence America’s political process."

"Over a hundred years ago, a pro-business Teddy Roosevelt busted up more than 40 oil, railroad, steel and other 'trusts' that were wielding their rapacious monopoly power to gouge consumers and interfere with the efficient functioning of the American economy. Donald Trump will break up the new media conglomerate oligopolies," said Trump senior economic advisor Peter Navarro.

Trump himself was one of NBC's biggest stars as the host of The Apprentice; the TV network cut off its business relationship with him last year because of his controversial comments.