Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton Skeptical Of At&t, Time Warner Merger

Both major party presidential campaigns expressed concerns just hours after the telecom giant AT&T announced Saturday night that it intends to buy the cable behemoth Time Warner for $85.4 billion in a deal that could result in one of the biggest media companies in the U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump decried the merger before it was even official, announcing at a campaign rally in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Saturday afternoon that it would “destroy democracy.” His campaign later issued a statement, steeped in early Twentieth century populist rhetoric, promising that a Trump administration would “break up” and “prevent” such economic consolidation in the future. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, echoed the sentiment on Sunday, saying on NBC News’ Meet the Press that he was “pro-competition” and that “less concentration… is generally helpful, especially in the media.” Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon also evinced skepticism about the deal, telling reporters that “marketplace competition is a good and healthy thing for consumers.” “There are a number of questions and concerns that rise in that vein about this announced deal but there is still a lot of information that needs to come out before any conclusion should be reached,” he told reporters on Sunday.