WSJ: Kushner Chided Time Warner to Fire 20% of CNN Staff

Amid a Department of Justice halt of a proposed AT&T and Time Warner merger — and speculation White House tensions with CNN are at the root of the snag — The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that senior adviser Jared Kushner told a top Time Warner executive CNN should fire 20 percent of its staff because of its presidential election miscalculations.

Earlier this year, "Mr. Kushner told the executive, Gary Ginsberg, that CNN should fire 20 percent of its staff because they were so wrong in their analysis of the election and how it would turn out, people familiar with the matter say," WSJ's Amol Sharma wrote.

"A White House official said Mr. Kushner didn't intend the comment to be taken seriously, and was simply trying to make a point. Inside Time Warner, it wasn't taken lightly."

According to the report, Ginsberg rejected Kushner's suggestion, as "there was no scenario under which Time Warner would do that, one of the people familiar with the matter said."

AT&T is seeking federal approval to purchase Time Warner, CNN's parent company, but the DOJ reportedly might be requesting Time Warner to sell off its Turner Broadcasting division in order for the $85.4 billion merger to be approved under antitrust review.

Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law married to the president's daughter Ivanka Trump, is a senior adviser for the White House. Kushner was also instrumental in analytics in measuring President Trump's attack during the campaign and mapping the Electoral College.

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