Democratic Senators Call Out Lack of National Security Review for Paramount-WBD Deal: ‘Head in the Sand’

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) expressed concern for the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal due to the lack of a national security review.

On Saturday, the Democratic senators sounded off on the $111 billion offer — which features billions of dollars of backing from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds — reiterating their call for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (a.k.a. CFIUS) to see if there are any national security risks that could arise from the deal.

“Given the cloud of corruption surrounding the Trump administration’s review of this deal from Day One, it’s no surprise that Trump’s Treasury Department is sticking its head in the sand instead of investigating the national security risks of $24 billion from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds apparently flooding this deal,” Warren said in a statement. “It’s American consumers who will pay the price. Thanks to Donald Trump, a Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could mean higher prices and fewer choices, and might allow foreign actors to control what’s on our screens or access our private viewing information.”

Blumenthal expressed a similar sentiment, adding that the Trump administration’s “consideration of Netflix’s bid was conspicuously tainted by political interference and outright corruption,” and suggested the Paramount update is no better.

“I have no confidence that [Treasury] Secretary [Scott] Bessent, or Attorney General [Pam] Bondi, will enforce our antitrust and national security laws when it comes to President Trump’s financial backers,” he added. “The cost of that rubber-stamp will be higher prices on consumers, substantial job loss in Hollywood, and Gulf countries buying even more influence over Americans’ entertainment.”

Representatives for the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Warren and Blumenthal have been vocal critics of the sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, first raising concerns to CFIUS chair and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about Paramount’s proposed foreign backers back in December.

In February, after Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison emerged victorious in the WBD bidding war, Mason Champion — who serves as the principal deputy assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the U.S. Department of the Treasury — wrote that the Treasury Department “takes seriously the potential national security risk present in certain transactions by foreign persons.”

He added: “When a transaction is identified and falls within CFIUS’ statutory jurisdiction, CFIUS thoroughly considers the national security effects of each transaction — that is, an assessment of the threat, vulnerabilities, and consequences to national security related to the transaction — and takes appropriate action.”

Though, Champion did not clarify whether plans were underway for CFIUS to launch a review into the Paramount-WBD deal.

However, as we reported back in December, the Ellisons stated the Middle East funds agreed to forgo all governance rights, including board representation, and that they wouldn’t have an ownership stake large enough to trigger a mandatory CFIUS review.

Still, given Paramount Skydance’s financing for the WBD bid includes billions in backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the looming security questions remain.

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