The Hill

Top House Democrats are calling for the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to be investigated over whether he has been improperly clearing regulatory hurdles for the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s pending acquisition of Tribune Media. Reps Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Frank Pallone Jr (D-NJ), the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Commerce Committee respectively, sent a letter to the FCC inspector general, asking that he probe whether Chairman Ajit Pai has been clearing the way for the $3.9 billion deal.

President Donald Trump appeared to stress that he had not intervened in AT&T’s bid to buy Time Warner — nor did he seek to require that the companies sell CNN in order to obtain the US government’s approval of the deal.

A group of Democratic Sens is demanding answers from the Trump administration over news reports that the Department of Justice asked AT&T to sell CNN as a condition for allowing a merger between AT&T and Time Warner. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and a group of fellow Democrats sent a letter Nov 10 to President Donald Trump and Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim over the possibility of "undue interference" by Trump in the agency's antitrust enforcement.

Democratic Reps are pushing the Federal Elections Commission to take more aggressive action in curbing foreign influence in US elections.  Eighteen members of Congress led by Democracy Reform Task Force Chair Rep John Sarbanes (D-MD) urged the FEC in a letter on Nov 9 to treat political advertisements on social media platforms in the same way that it treats TV or radio ads. Rep Sarbanes and company argued that with such measures in place, foreign manipulation of social media platforms during the 2016 U.S.