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Report: Trump Complained About Zucker in Front of CEO Trying to Buy CNN’s Parent

Network employees fear Trump could leverage proposed merger to force out CNN chief.

According to a Vanity Fair report, CNN employees fear President Trump will attempt to use the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger to get rid of CNN chief Jeff Zucker—whom Trump has repeatedly accused of treating his administration unfairly. “I think there’s a real chance that Zucker is being forced out,” one employee told the magazine. “That’s going to blow up this organization like nothing in the history of CNN.” Additionally, Vanity Fair reported that Trump openly complained about CNN and Zucker with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in the room for a White House tech conference. While the pair had not directly discussed CNN, the report suggests fears among employees, outside media analysts, and other politicians that the president will leverage his ability to nix the merger as a way to reshape CNN more in his favor.