A report today in the Financial Times indicates that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has informed AT&T that federal approval of its planned merger with Time Warner is contingent on the sale of CNN.

In response, American Oversight’s Executive Director, Austin Evers, released the following statement:

“The use of the Department of Justice as a political cudgel to punish an organization the president regards as an enemy would be a gross violation of the law and American values. No fair observer can ignore that the Department of Justice is taking an action consistent with the public statements and Tweets of the president, leading to the obvious question of whether it acted according to those demands. Congress, the public, and the media must demand that Attorney General Sessions prove that the president’s antidemocratic outbursts played no role in this surprise decision.”

American Oversight has previously investigated this matter, submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to DOJ and calling on Congressional leaders in July to fully review whether the Trump administration has improperly handled its review of this merger.