STRANGE TIMING

Lawyer Says Fox’s $1M Melania Donation Should Set Off ‘Every Alarm Bell’

The legal group wants an investigation into whether Fox’s donation influenced the DOJ.

The American Economic Liberties Project has put a spotlight on Fox Corporation’s million-dollar donation to a Melania Trump-led initiative ahead of the company’s acquisition of a popular video streaming platform.

Lawyers with the nonpartisan legal advocacy organization have called for a congressional investigation into the DOJ’s clearance of Fox’s $22 billion acquisition of Roku, which closed on Friday. The DOJ’s decision to halt its investigation into potential antitrust violations by Fox comes only months after the company donated $1 million to the first lady’s college scholarship initiative for foster youth.

“It should set off every alarm bell that the Fox Corporation is giving any money to the First Lady’s foster care initiative during the Justice Department’s review of its Roku deal,” Lee Hepner, senior legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, wrote in a statement.

The White House, Fox News and DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The DOJ confirmed in a statement Friday that its investigation was focused on whether Fox might use Roku to harm competition in the streaming space to promote its television properties.

Roku is a streaming and electronics company that consolidates different streaming apps, like Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max, into a central channel.

Fox committed to carrying “non-Fox” content on Roku for at least three years, maintained that Roku will remain an “open and neutral” partner and said it would refrain from “degrading the platform,” according to a DOJ statement.

The statement did not specify what would legally bind Fox to this agreement.

“Given the facts surrounding the investigation, the Division anticipates that the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition,” the statement read.

Throughout Trump’s second term, the volume of corporate consolidation and multi-billion-dollar merger approvals has increased considerably. A report from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office last month found that 330 companies have announced large mergers totaling more than $2.2 trillion since the beginning of Trump’s second term.

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Despite a legal challenge from 12 state attorneys general across the country—which reached a settlement in September—Prominent Trump ally and Paramount CEO David Ellison had his $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. approved by the DOJ’s antitrust division in June.

“This is part of a documented pattern, where big media corporations curry favor with the administration, via donations and promises of favorable coverage, and then deals get done,” Hepner added in his statement.

Hepner implored new members of Congress to place increased checks on multibillion merger dollar deals in the interest of fair market competition in big industries.

“The next Congress has a responsibility to take these sorts of transactions seriously and root out the blatant corruption that has allowed America to turn into an oligarchy, where power keeps getting consolidated at a remarkable rate,” Hepner said.

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Christopher Buchanan

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