White House senior adviser Jared Kushner reportedly asked a Time Warner executive to get rid of 20% of CNN's staff earlier this year.

The news comes amid AT&T's possible $84.5 billion merger with Time Warner, which owns Turner Broadcasting's CNN.

The Justice Department reportedly stipulated that for the merger to be approved, either parties needed to sell Turner Broadcasting or DirecTV.



President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner reportedly asked Time Warner executive Gary Ginsberg to dump 20% of CNN's staff, due to its supposed faulty analysis in the 2016 US Presidential election, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said that the meeting, held earlier this year, took place after Kushner was displeased with the network's coverage during the election cycle.

Ginsberg reportedly replied to Kushner that Time Warner, CNN's parent company, would not be able to do that, sources told The Journal.

The Journal continued that, according to a White House official, Kushner was merely making a point, and did not mean to be taken seriously.





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(Photo by Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 1: (L-R) Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, Lara Spencer and David Haffenreffer attend The New York Observer's New Look Hosted by Jared Kushner and Joseph Meyer at Casa Lever on April 1, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 16: (L-R) Eric Trump, Lara Yunaska Trump, Donald Trump, Barron Trump, Melania Trump, Vanessa Haydon Trump, Kai Madison Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Donald John Trump III, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Tiffany Trump pose for photos on stage after Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the U.S. presidency at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015 in New York City. Trump is the 12th Republican who has announced running for the White House. 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With less than 24 hours until Election Day in the United States, Trump and his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, are campaigning in key battleground states that each must win to take the White House. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 08: President-elect Donald Trump embraces son in law Jared Kushner (R), as his daughter Ivanka Trump, (L), stands nearby, after his acceptance speech at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016 in New York City. Donald Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 1: President-elect Donald Trump and Jared Kushner take a tour of Carrier Corporation in Indianapolis, IN on Thursday, Dec. 01, 2016. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: President Donald Trump shakes hands with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, as he is joined by the Congressional leadership and his family while he formally signs his cabinet nominations into law, in the President's Room of the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, January 20, 2017. From left are Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite - Pool/Getty Images) US President Donald Trump (L) congratulates his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner after the swearing-in of senior staff in the East Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 23: Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn (L) and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner (R) listen to U.S. President Donald Trump deliver opening remarks during a meeting with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room at the White House January 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Business leaders included Elon Musk of SpaceX, Mark Sutton of International Paper, Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical, Mario Longhi of US Steel, Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Wendell Weeks of Corning, Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson, Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and others. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) TOPSHOT - Senior Advisor Jared Kushner (L) and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly (R) listen while US President Donald Trump puts his papers away at the beginning of a meeting on cyber security in the Roosevelt Room of the White House January 31, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 31: The name place card for White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, who is also the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, sits on the table before a meeting about cyber security in the Roosevelt Room at the White House January 31, 2017 in Washington, DC. Citing the hack of computers at the Democratic National Committee by Russia, Trump said that the private and public sectors must do more to prevent and protect against cyber attacks. 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Kushner reportedly filed complaints to CNN executives on a regular basis during the campaign, and was particularly displeased with its fact-checking, which, according to The Journal, prompted Kushner to call CNN president Jeff Zucker to say that members of the Trump campaign would not appear on the network.

The icy relationship between the network and campaign became apparent on the campaign trail, as Trump began criticizing the mainstream media and accused CNN of peddling "fake news." Behind the scenes, CNN executives appeared to meet with Kushner in order to develop ties with the campaign and provide news coverage, the Journal reported.

News of Kushner's remarks come amid AT&T's plans for a $84.5 billion merger with Time Warner.

According to reports, the Justice Department has required AT&T and Time Warner to relinquish either Turner Broadcasting — which includes CNN — or DirecTV, for the merger to be approved. This requirement sparked speculation amongst people in the companies that the Justice Department may have been influenced by the Trump administration, according to The Journal.

But AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that the Justice Department never asked his company to divest from CNN in order to acquire Time Warner.

"I have never been told that the price of getting the deal done was selling CNN, period," Stephenson said at a conference Thursday. "And likewise I have never offered to sell CNN. There is absolutely no intention that we would ever sell CNN."

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