Senators denounce Trump administration’s inaction in reviewing Paramount’s Warner Bros. deal over national security risks due to support from Arab wealth funds

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are criticizing the Trump administration for failing to initiate a national security review of Paramount Skydance’s deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, a proposed $111 billion pact backed by billions of dollars from a trio of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.

The senators previously called on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, also known as CFIUS, to review the proposed pact. Led by the Treasury Department, CFIUS is the U.S. government’s interagency body that evaluates foreign investments in U.S. companies for potential national security risks.

Financing for Paramount Skydance’s WBD deal includes financing from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). Paramount’s bid for WBD as of Dec. 1 included a total of $24 billion from Middle Eastern funds, according to an SEC filing. Since then, the company has not disclosed how much the three funds will contribute to the winning bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, which WBD’s board of directors accepted last month after Netflix opted not to counter Paramount’s $31 per share offer.

Warren said in a statement to Variety“Given the cloud of corruption surrounding the Trump administration’s review of this deal from day one, it is no surprise that the Trump Treasury Department is burying its head in the sand rather than investigating the national security risks of $24 billion of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds apparently swamping this deal. It is American consumers who will pay the price. Thanks to Donald Trump, a Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could lead to higher prices and fewer choices, and it would put foreign actors in able to check what is on our programme.” screens or access our private viewing information.”

Blumenthal claimed that the Trump administration’s “consideration of Netflix’s bid was conspicuously tainted by political interference and outright corruption.” Regarding the Paramount-WBD deal, the senator said in a statement: “I have no confidence in that [Treasury] Secretary [Scott] Bessent, or Attorney General [Pam] Bondi will enforce our antitrust and national security laws when it comes to President Trump’s backers. The cost of that stamp will be higher prices for consumers, substantial job losses in Hollywood and buying even more influence over American entertainment.”

Variety has contacted the Ministry of Finance for comment.

On December 4, Warren and Blumenthal wrote a letter to Secretary Bessent in his capacity as CFIUS chairman, asking questions about the foreign investors who supported Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. and urged him to review the proposed deal.

In a letter dated February 27 – the day after Netflix announced its deal to acquire Warner Bros. canceled to buy. studios and streaming companies, giving Paramount the winning bid for WBD – the Senators received a response from Mason Champion, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Treasury Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs. However, the letter did not address whether the Paramount-WBD deal would be reviewed by CFIUS.

“As chairman of CFIUS, the Treasury Department takes seriously the potential national security risk associated with certain transactions by foreign persons,” Champion wrote in the letter. “When a transaction is identified and falls within CFIUS’ legal jurisdiction, CFIUS thoroughly considers the national security implications of each transaction – that is, an assessment of the threat, vulnerabilities and national security implications associated with the transaction – and takes appropriate action.”

If CFIUS determines that a particular transaction would pose a threat to national security, CFIUS may work with the parties on measures to address the concerns. The committee could also make a recommendation to the US president to block the transaction.

Paramount Skydance claimed in SEC filings regarding its hostile bid for WBD that the three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds “have agreed to waive all board rights – including board representation – associated with their non-voting equity investments.” As such, according to Paramount, the deal “will not fall within the jurisdiction of CFIUS.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was asked about the involvement of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds in Paramount’s WBD bid before his company walked away from the Warner Bros. deal. In particular, he was asked in a February 23 interview with “BBC Radio 4 Today” whether he thought it was “wrong in principle for foreign governments to have any form of financial ownership” in TV news networks.

“I think it’s a bad idea” Sarandos commentedand says that the Arab wealth funds are in “a part of the world that is not very big on the First Amendment.” On the idea that the three funds would have no board representation in a combined Paramount-WBD, the director said: “It seems very strange to me, with the level of investment we are talking about, that they would have no influence or editorial control over the media in another country.”

Paramount, parent company of CBS News, would add CNN to its portfolio under the WBD deal. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison said earlier this week that CNN’s “editorial independence will absolutely be preserved” with the new ownership.

Meanwhile, other US politicians have sounded the alarm about the prospect of Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros., with the backing of foreign investors. On December 10, Democratic U.S. Reps. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said they had “serious national security concerns” about Paramount’s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery, given the involvement of Middle Eastern funds. The lawmakers noted that the Saudi Public Investment Fund is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to the representatives, “US intelligence agencies conclusively implicated Prince Salman in the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi to suppress dissent.”

Liccardo and Pressley wrote in a letter to Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav. Discovery and other WBD board members, that a future Democratic-controlled Congress or White House “will review many of the current administration’s decisions and could recommend to regulators that they push for divestitures, which would undermine the strategic logic of this merger.”

SEE ALSO: Paramount’s $111 billion Warner Bros. deal backed by Arab sovereign wealth funds raises soft power concerns