Bonta said the Trump administration’s antitrust enforcers appear to have abandoned the federal government’s traditional approach to merger review, framing his criticism as a broader attack on DOJ policy.
Several states are now weighing a possible challenge to the transaction, signaling the deal could still face scrutiny even after federal clearance.
The clash sets up a state-versus-federal test over one of the media industry’s biggest proposed combinations and how aggressively mergers will be policed.