Bonta casts California as backstop to Trump's antitrust retreat
By Flavia Fortes and Curtis Eichelberger ( July 13, 2026, 21:37 GMT | Comment) -- California Attorney General Rob Bonta said a lawsuit against the proposed merger by Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is about much more than one Hollywood transaction. Bonta’s message is that California is prepared to fill what it sees as a vacuum left by the Trump administration's merger enforcement — and that future dealmakers should expect increasingly aggressive scrutiny from state attorneys general even where Washington declines to intervene. Other states are following a similar path, with several attorneys general criticizing what they see as a rollback of federal antitrust enforcement and pursuing merger challenges of their own.California Attorney General Rob Bonta said a lawsuit against the proposed merger by Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is about much more than one Hollywood transaction....
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