By Brian Stelter, CNN

(CNN) — Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Wednesday that the regulatory review of Warner’s deal with Netflix has begun, even as Paramount mounts a hostile takeover bid.

Two senators are now coming forward and pressing Attorney General Pam Bondi to recuse herself from the review of the deal.

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal say the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent, has been “surrounded by a cesspool of corruption and political favoritism.”

And “the corruption concerns related to this deal extend to your office,” the senators asserted in a letter to Bondi on Wednesday.

The letter, obtained by CNN, noted that Bondi’s previous employer, the lobbying firm Ballard Partners, has been hired by both Paramount and Netflix as the companies seek Trump administration approval.

Disclosure forms indicate that Ballard has been representing Paramount all year long and has been working with Netflix since March.

“The DOJ already faces allegations that Ballard has inappropriately influenced the Trump Administration’s antitrust enforcement decisions,” Warren and Blumenthal wrote.

When asked about the senators’ push for recusal, DOJ spokesperson Gates McGavick told CNN, “All officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials.”

While Bondi is likely to ignore the Democratic demands, the episode underscores the political tensions behind a review process that could reshape the media and entertainment landscape.

The outcome of the review will determine not only the future ownership of WBD’s assets, but also whether the Trump administration can credibly claim the process was free from political favoritism.

President Trump has said that he’ll be “involved” in the decision, despite a long history of past presidents leaving antitrust reviews to Justice Department experts.

A DOJ spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that Bondi and antitrust division chief Gail Slater would lead the review, which gave Warren and Blumenthal an opening to raise ethical concerns.

Bondi bristled at an October hearing when Blumenthal probed a connection between Ballard’s clients and the Justice Department’s actions. “I have abided by every ethics standard,” she said.

Already, numerous lawmakers in both parties have raised concerns about the implications of the media consolidation that either Warner Bros. deal would represent.

Warren has called the Netflix deal an “anti-monopoly nightmare” and the Paramount proposal a “five-alarm antitrust fire.”

Some Democrats in the House have also warned that if their party prevails in the midterm elections next year, they could push for divestitures, “which would undermine the strategic logic of this merger.”

On the Republican side of the aisle, Sen. Mike Lee has predicted an “intense antitrust hearing” over the Netflix deal.

Netflix has asserted that its takeover of Warner Bros. would be “pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-creator and pro-growth,” offering audiences and creators “even more choice, value and opportunity.”

Meanwhile, Paramount continues to urge shareholders to accept its $30-per-share takeover offer for all of WBD, including CNN.

Paramount’s leadership team has been both credited and criticized for forging close ties to the Trump administration.

Warren and Blumenthal wrote on Wednesday that those “aggressive efforts to curry favor with the president” have tainted the Warner bidding process with “the appearance of corruption.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the WBD board urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s bid. Zaslav said in a memo to WBD staffers, “We continue to have a s

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — For a time in the 1990s, Rob Reiner turned his attention from the movies that had made him famous towards a particular passion project.

Attachment theory was the growing rage — the idea that a child needs to form secure bonds with a caregiver in the first three years of life in order to develop in a healthy and stable way. Reiner founded “I Am Your Child,” an advocacy group designed to raise awareness.

It was in that capacity that he made his way to the studios of Charlie Rose in June 1997.

“I’ve been thinking about this for almost 20 years,” he told Rose. Now that he had found success, using his platform to work on the subject “is the greatest thrill of my life,” he said. “I hate to say it but, if I could make a living, you know, doing this, I wouldn’t make films.”

It was a big statement, but one grounded in Reiner’s beliefs. “Successful attachment early on holds you in very good stead later on in life,” he told Rose. “You will not find one single person in jail for a violent crime who had a great childhood.”

At the time, Nick Reiner was three years old. Twenty-eight years later he would stand accused of murdering his parents.

The Reiners spoke openly and often about their love for their children, who in addition to Nick include son Jake Reiner, 34, daughter Romy, 27 and Tracy, 61, who Rob Reiner adopted during a previous marriage to the celebrated director Penny Marshall.

Michele Reiner’s Instagram features glowing photos and proud boasts about her kids, while Rob Reiner was a common presence in Romy Reiner’s social media in particular, where she appeared to revel in the time they spent together, swimming in the sea or regularly cutting his hair.

Reiner was reportedly so enamored with fatherhood that he had the word “dad” as part of his email address.

The Reiners had differing parenting styles and spoke about the tension it caused in their relationship when the kids were little.

“We had different ways of going about it,” Rob Reiner said during an appearance with Michele on the “Double Date with Marlo Thomas & Phil Donahue” podcast in October 2022. Asked about the biggest challenges in their marriage, Rob Reiner said it was “different issues with the kids.”

Michele Reiner jumped in with an example. “When the boys were little — like 4 and 6, before our daughter was born— I said we really need to teach them how to make a bed and our oldest son Jake goes, ‘But daddy, you don’t make your bed,’” she recalled. “And Rob went ‘He’s right.’… Even the kids complain that there aren’t enough boundaries and they weren’t disciplined enough.”

Rob Reiner replied that he “got that from my parents. They never disciplined me.” Then he added: “You got your kids, you love your kids and hopefully they do the right thing.”

The Reiners were also very open about Nick’s struggles with substance abuse, which included revolving stays in rehab and periods of homelessness. Rob and N

Por Pau Mosquera, CNN en Español

Este 2025 no parece que vaya a terminar como un buen año para el Gobierno de Coalición en España. A lo largo de los últimos meses, la acción del ejecutivo liderado por Pedro Sánchez se ha visto empañada por una serie de escándalos que acechan el entorno del Partido Socialista Obrero Español, así como por la pérdida de apoyos en el Congreso de los Diputados, relegando la actividad legislativa a un segundo plano.

Ya estas polémicas giran, principalmente, en torno a personas que eran de la confianza del presidente del Gobierno de España.

En primer lugar, destacan los presuntos casos de corrupción que afectan a los dos últimos secretarios de organización del Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), Santos Cerdán y José Luís Ábalos, y a la pieza separada vinculada de esta investigación inicial -que recibe el nombre de Caso Koldo– donde la Audiencia Nacional indaga sobre posibles pagos irregulares en efectivo del partido a Ábalos y quien fuera su asesor, Koldo García, entre los años 2017 y 2024. Irregularidades que desde el partido han negado en las últimas semanas.

En segundo lugar, el malestar generado dentro del propio PSOE -del que Sánchez es su secretario general- por la gestión de las acusaciones de acoso sexual vertidas por mujeres de la organización contra Francisco Salazar, quien iba a sustituir a Cerdán al frente de la secretaría de organización.

Una polémica que arrancó el pasado mes de julio después de que el medio español “ElDiario.es” publicara los testimonios de dos mujeres que aseguraban haber sido víctimas de “comportamientos inadecuados” por parte de Salazar. A la vista de la gravedad de las acusaciones, el partido abrió un canal interno para que las personas que lo desearan pudieran hacer llegar denuncias anónimas de forma telemática.

Estos hechos llevaron a que renunciara asumir el cargo de secretario de organización que se le había ofrecido y, posteriormente, en noviembre, se dio de baja como militante. Dado que desde el pasado mes de julio Salazar no se ha pronunciado públicamente sobre esta situación, CNN está intentando averiguar si cuenta con asistencia letrada para saber cómo se pronuncia al respecto de las acusaciones.

Pero las denuncias que se presentaron no fueron debidamente atendidas, incluso llegando a desaparecer del mismo canal, según publicó “ElDiario.es”. Una situación que valió las disculpas públicas del partido. “Reconocemos abiertamente que se ha fallado en la comunicación con ellas”, se disculpaba Rebeca Torró, la actual secretaria de organización, el pasado 12 de diciembre desde la sede Socialista.

“Hemos cometido errores, como todos”, Read more

The post Firefighters Spread Holiday Cheer Among Pediatric Patients at Ventura County Medical Center appeared first on edhat.

By Jackie Wattles, CNN

(CNN) — A monthslong saga featuring tech billionaire Jared Isaacman — President Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again pick to run NASA — has finally come to a close as the Senate confirmed his appointment in a 67-to-30 vote.

Isaacman, a private astronaut and CEO of payments company Shift4, is now set to take the helm at NASA just weeks before the agency is expected to launch Artemis II, a mission that will carry four astronauts around the moon and mark the farthest into space humans have traveled since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

When Trump first selected Isaacman for the NASA role in late 2024, the choice sparked excitement among space industry leaders who view Isaacman as a changemaker. The nomination also raised concerns about conflicts of interest.

Since founding Shift4 in 1999 at the age of 16, Isaacman has made a name for himself in the space industry by self-funding experimental flights to Earth orbit. He’s flown to space twice — both times in partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Those missions have given Isaacman the perception of a bold risk-taker who is embracing the space industry’s transition away from government-funded projects and toward private-sector enterprise. His supporters hope that, as the head of NASA, he will foster competition among space companies, push them to align with NASA’s goals, and focus the space agency’s own efforts on bleeding edge technologies.

But Isaacman’s nomination is not without controversy.

‘Extremely suspicious’

Some are concerned his ties to Musk and SpaceX run too deep. On Monday, Senator Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, lambasted SpaceX for refusing to disclose how much money Isaacman paid the company for his flights to space.

“This is extremely suspicious. SpaceX has billions to gain from having a friendly NASA administrator, and it seems only fair that the American people understand the extent to which Isaacman and SpaceX are financially intertwined,” Markey said in a Monday statement. “Sometimes if it looks like corruption, sounds like corruption, and smells like corruption, it’s just plain corruption.”

Markey had requested that SpaceX release Isaacman from a non-disclosure agreement that prevented him from directly providing Senators with the information.

Recent financial disclosures also say that Isaacman’s ongoing deal with SpaceX for a program called Polaris is worth more than $50 million. He also reported more than $5 million in capital gains from an investment in SpaceX.

During the hearing, Isaacman sought to downplay his associations with Musk.

“I led two missions to space at SpaceX because it’s the only organization that can send astronauts to and from space since the Shuttle was retired,” Isaacman said. “And in that respect, my relationship is no different than that of NASA.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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