FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said White House counsel Don McGahn called him directly in mid-July after the chairman announced an order to send the $3.9 billion merger into a lengthy administrative hearing process. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo FCC chairman: White House counsel inquired about Sinclair-Tribune deal

President Donald Trump’s top White House lawyer called Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in July to ask about the agency’s decision to doom Sinclair Broadcast Group's politically charged attempt to acquire Tribune Media, Pai told lawmakers Thursday.

The previously undisclosed call from White House counsel Don McGahn drew questions from a Democratic lawmaker and advocacy group about whether the Trump administration tried to sway the agency on a deal that the president supported. A week after the call, Trump publicly denounced the FCC’s action as “sad and unfair.”


Pai, speaking at a congressional oversight hearing, said McGahn called him directly in mid-July after the chairman announced an order to send the $3.9 billion merger into a lengthy administrative hearing process widely viewed as a deal-killer. Pai described the call as a request for a status update rather than an effort to influence the outcome.

“He saw something in the news and wanted to know what our decision was, or what the action was, the proposed action,” he said during questioning by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) “He just wanted to know what it was.”

Following the hearing, FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield said the call occurred on July 17, a day after Pai said he had "serious concerns" about the transaction. During the call, Wigfield said, the chairman "explained what the status of the proceeding was."

Pai previously said that the White House did not contact him to “express a view” about the deal. Earlier this month, when a POLITICO reporter asked Pai about any outreach from the administration on the deal, he did not mention McGahn's call.

Given Sinclair's conservative bent and its pattern of sending "must-run" pro-Trump segments to its network of stations, questions have swirled about any White House influence in the regulatory review of the merger. The FCC is an independent agency, although its five members are appointed by the president and Trump named Pai the chairman last year.

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“Any interaction from the White House counsel ought to be interpreted as expressing a preference," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

Schatz said Pai should have told Congress he heard from McGahn, because he previously told senators he’d let them know about any attempted interference from the White House. “It is difficult to believe the White House counsel was just satisfying his curiosity," the senator said.

Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that opposed the merger, said it's "very rare" for the White House to take an interest in a merger before the FCC, given that administrations generally do not want to appear to improperly weigh in on such a review.

Feld said McGahn could have made the president's position known while inquiring about the status of the deal.

"If the White House counsel through tone of voice or phrases that aren’t advocacy but are a nudge-nudge, wink-wink sort of thing: 'You know, this matter is important to the president, Sinclair has been a great friend, I’m not urging you to do anything, I’m just asking, 'is this really settled,?'" Feld said. "It would technically be a status inquiry, but it would be pretty clear the outcome the White House wanted."

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment on the McGahn call.

Trump denounced the FCC's move on Twitter on July 24, calling it "sad and unfair" and saying the merger would have created a "great and much-needed conservative voice."

Pai has said he stands by the agency's decision. The FCC was troubled by Sinclair's proposed TV station sales to comply with media ownership limits. Sinclair had wanted to spin off some stations to close allies, raising questions about how much control it would continue to exercise over the properties.

Sinclair ramped up its lobbying efforts as the FCC took action, hiring a team of Republican lobbyists from S-3 Group to influence policymakers on the merger. Sinclair Executive Chairman David Smith also reached out to Capitol Hill, meeting with Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) to vent his frustration about the FCC.

But Tribune walked away from the deal earlier this month and filed a lawsuit against Sinclair, seeking at least $1 billion in damages and accusing the broadcaster of breaching the merger agreement by failing to get regulatory approval as quickly as possible.

Ashley Gold contributed to this report.

