Doctors and Sprint Managing Director, Marcelo Claure, testified to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust allowed to answer questions about the agreement, which appear to lawmakers for the first time since T-Mobile's expenses at the Washington Hotel came to light. The Washington Post was the first to report on T-Mobile's expenses at the Trump Hotel.
Legends and a handful of other business executives checked into the Trump Hotel the day after the deal was announced in April 2018, and some have returned several times since then. T-Mobile has spent $ 195,000 on stays and meetings at the hotel over the past 11 months, the company said.
"Do you understand the optics? What does it look like? It looks like what's going on is that T-Mobile is trying to curry favor with the White House, "Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat. [1[ads1]9659004] "The optics for me staying at the Trump hotel have not changed for 10 years," he said.
In a letter sent to two democratic legislators last month, he explained that he chose to stay there based on "availability, security, meeting facilities and proximity to the activities planned in that city. "
The amount spent on Trump International Hotel accounted for 14% of the $ 1.4 million spent on DC hotels by T-Mobile during that period, the company said.
But it did not satisfy all members of the Democrat-controlled house panel.
"I just travel this because we unfortunately have a situation where the president has not revealed his business interest, and it seems you might be trying to influence the president to get involved in something he should not really be involved with," said Rep Pramila Jayapal, and Washington State Democrat.
It was no secret that President Donald Trump opposed the merger between AT & T and Time Warner (CNN is a division of WarnerMedia, created as a result of that merger). The Ministry of Justice was unable to block the acquisition.
Chairman David Cicilline, an Rhode democracy, called the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint a "critical test" for the anti-trust department of the Justice Department.
Is it "really dedicated to promoting competition, or is it just opposed to mergers when White Houses tell it to do so?" he asked during the opening statement.
The Justice Department did not attempt to block a similar merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox, which owns Fox News.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Republicans at the jury criticized Democrats for asking Legere about his stay at the hotel.
But critics find these statements hard to believe, while Christopher Shelton, president of the communications union of America Union, said during his testimony on Tuesday that he expect the opposite – that the merger would kill jobs and lower wages.
Congress has no say in the approval of the merger, but some lawmakers concerned has urged the Federal Communications Commission and the Ministry of Justice to block the agreement.
In December, the proposal removed a key obstacle, but it still needs final approval. The companies expect to merge as planned in the first half of this year.