Dozens of protesters, including members of Congress, gathered along the National Mall on Thursday to protest an “intimate” dinner being held by Paramount Skydance chief executive David Ellison “in celebration of the First Amendment” and “honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House Correspondents”, and attended by Donald Trump.
The event has faced criticism for its perceived cozy relationship between the Ellisons and the White House, particularly as the Trump administration weighs approval for Paramount's $110 billion merger with CNN parent company WarnerBros Discovery.
US Representative Jamie Raskin referred to the dinner as “a lavish oligarch’s dinner for Donald Trump”, while Becca Balint, a Democratic Vermont lawmaker and member of the House antitrust subcommittee, described it as a celebration of power and corruption.
The protest comes ahead of Saturday's White House correspondents' dinner, which Trump will attend. His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is expected to sit at one of the many tables bought by CBS News for the event.
Earlier Thursday, WBD shareholders voted “overwhelmingly” to approve the merger, which still requires approval from the Department of Justice and European regulators.
Speakers encouraged the crowd not to give up hope on blocking the merger, with many antitrust experts viewing a lawsuit from a coalition of state attorneys general as the most likely vehicle for doing so.
Norm Eisen, founder of Democracy Defenders Action, likened Thursday's dinner honoring the Trump administration to a celebration of the first amendment “the same way a book burning is a celebration of the written word”.