Donald Trump arrived at the Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening to attend a private dinner hosted by Paramount CEO David Ellison, who is seeking approval of his proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Across the street on the National Mall, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and about two dozen other merger opponents held a rally opposing the transaction, casting it as an example of Trump administration corruption. Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called the Ellison event an “oligarch’s dinner.”
Among the signs spotted: “I C B S” and “Stop the Monopoly of the News.” An inflatable Donald Trump held a sign that read, “Ellison’s my boy.”
Norm Eisen, co-founder of Democracy Defenders Action, read Paramount’s invitation to the event, which Status newsletetr posted on social media earlier this week. It read that the event was an “intimate gathering in celebration of the First Amendment honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House correspondents.”
“This resembles the First Amendment in the same way that a book burning is a celebration of the written word,” Eisen said.
The event was expected to draw from Paramount corporate, rather than the news division.
The demonstration was organized by groups including Free Press (the public interest group, not the Bari Weiss-founded publication) and Public Citizen. Other speakers include Alvaro Bedoya, the former FTC commissioner, Free Press’ Craig Aaron and Rep. Rebecca Balint (D-VT).
The dinner is being held in the Institute of Peace, which was renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Although the institute was set up by an act of Congress, Trump’s team took over the institute and its building, with dramatic views of the Lincoln Memorial, last year.
Ellison has defended the merger, casting it as a necessary combination that will strengthen the feature film business. Paramount also has argued that the combination will create a comoany that can better compete with Netflix.
More to come.