Former Trump Adviser Carter Page Files Brief in AT&T Antitrust Case

[caption id="attachment_6298" align="aligncenter" width="620"]

Carter Page.[/caption] Carter Page, who served as an informal adviser to President Donald Trump's presidential campaign, wants in on the Justice Department's antitrust battle against AT&T and Time Warner. Page, acting pro se, requested to file an amicus brief in the AT&T case Tuesday, in which he alleges the "U.S. telecommunications-media oligopoly" engaged in "illicit activities" alongside the U.S. government to interfere in last year's elections. The energy consultant sued Oath Inc., a subsidiary of Verizon that owns Yahoo News and HuffPo, earlier this year for slander. Page is also pro se in that case, in which the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent U.S. agency, is also listed as a defendant. The board, which is represented by DOJ lawyers, has filed a motion to dismiss the Oath case. Page wrote in his proposed brief Tuesday that allowing AT&T to merge with Time Warner, which owns cable news channel CNN, would further enlarge the "dangerous" media oligopoly. "In assessing the potential impact of admitting a third corporate behemoth into this telecommunications-media oligopoly with AT&T's proposed transaction, no theoretical economic model could ever prove equally effective in exposing the travesty of justice displayed by the real world impact of the recent abuses of this analogous archetype as seen in the first hand experience of Dr. Page," the brief said. Those experiences include when Yahoo News published an article in September 2016, which Page claims included false statements that he met with sanctioned Russian officials. Just last month, Page delivered documents to two congressional committees investigating potential Russian interference in last year's elections in response to subpoenas. A few days prior, Page testified for eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee on the topic. Page wrote Tuesday that telecommunications companies' goals "extend far beyond rational profit maximization," and that they use their power to encourage "extreme levels of journalistic recklessness." Page cited Verizon's ownership via Oath of Yahoo News and HuffPo as an example. He said media outlets are "easily leveraged" by owners and managers who "conspire with favored political actors to exclude contrarian perspectives." According to a recent filing by Page in the Oath case, he is enrolled in a part-time LLM program at a "prominent law school" and will begin coursework in January 2018. He added in the December filing that he is an active student member of the American Bar Association. The ABA said Page is listed as an associate member. Page said in his AT&T brief that he previously alerted the DOJ of his plan to file his amicus brief, and faced no objection. The DOJ sued AT&T last month, alleging the merger with Time Warner would harm consumers because it would allow the companies to charge content distributors more to host Time Warner channels and programs. A trial date in the case is set for March 19 before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia.