Paramount’s Flimsy Bid to Critics of Its CNN Takeover

Paramount Skydance has discussed establishing an independent editorial board for CNN to ease well-established fears that the network’s sale will reduce it to a mouthpiece for David and Larry Ellison—and by extension, President Trump.

Paramount already owns CBS News, a relationship that has resulted in the ascension of The Free Press’s Bari Weiss and the crippling of 60 Minutes. Now, the $81 billion deal to buy CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery—which would give Paramount Skydance a near monopoly on mainstream media—has been paused after 12 states filed an antitrust lawsuit to be heard in March of next year.

Larry Ellison reportedly met directly with Trump last November, and earlier this year was hit with allegations of “credible concern that Paramount leadership has offered, solicited, or effectuated a corrupt exchange: more favorable coverage of the Trump administration and its allies in exchange for favorable treatment by Trump administration antitrust and media regulators.” Trump has been critical of CNN for the greater part of a decade.

Everything the Ellisons have done so far at CBS News, from uplifting Bari Weiss to pushing the network in a more pro-Israel direction—has been to gain Trump’s blessing for this massive deal. It’s no wonder people are concerned—and unconvinced—about some independent editorial board actually doing anything to stop that from continuing. And while some referenced conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch creating a similar committee when he purchased Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones in 2007, others have noted that that too was simply all for show.

President Donald Trump reportedly wouldn’t stop harassing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during her brief maternity leave.

CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene reported Wednesday that Trump had repeatedly called Leavitt while she was on maternity leave to have her second child. The president was apparently desperate to know when she would leave her children and return to her podium, Treene said, citing anonymous sources.

Treene also said that Leavitt’s decision took the administration by surprise, and Trump even asked her to stay.

Another source close to Leavitt told Daily Mail that she had been strongly considering whether to step down during her maternity leave—while she was fielding frequent calls from the president.

Leavitt left for maternity leave on April 27, three days later than she initially planned to leave. The press secretary gave birth to her daughter on May 1, and returned to work just nine weeks later on July 1. Federal employees are typically entitled to 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

Two sources told the Mail that Leavitt’s decision, announced Wednesday, had been months in the making. “She was just trying to figure out how to politely step down with [Trump’s] blessing,” one of the sources said.

Another source told the Mail that Leavitt realized she needed to leave after returning from maternity leave. “First week back she realized she wasn’t feeling it anymore,” the source said.

Yet another source told Mail that Leavitt had been experiencing severe “burnout” from her job.

“It was a very stressful job to do with her children. She never got any sleep, and she didn’t want her performance to slip either, so she decided to stay as long as she could and do the job well,” the source said. “The president did everything he could to keep her.”

Leavitt said Wednesday that she was leaving to spend more time with her family. “The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary,” she wrote on X.

Trump initially announced Leavitt’s departure Wednesday, saying she was leaving in order to “spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!”

But it doesn’t seem likely that the president has “respect” for Leavitt’s decision—after all, he couldn’t even give her three months off with her newborn baby.

It looks like White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was finally honest about something.

In a lengthy statement on X Wednesday, Leavitt confirmed that she would be leaving the White House at the end of the month and included two photos of her with President Donald Trump.

Soon after, the internet started claiming that one of the photographs appeared to have been edited with AI. The Daily Beast reported that Leavitt had been “busted” for using AI to alter her image. The publication even produced a graphic showing all the ways she’d touched up her appearance, “slimmed” her waist, “enhanced” her chest, and “volumized” her hair.

But for once, Leavitt was telling the truth. The contested photograph was taken by Anna Moneymaker outside of the White House on July 15, 2025. It can be found on Getty Images in all of its original glory.

So, Leavitt’s photograph isn’t a lie—but you know what is? Everything else she said during her time as fascism’s mouthpiece.

For example: Leavitt parroted a fake story about Trump blocking $50 million worth of condoms to Gaza. She played along with claims that a deadly aircraft collision which killed 67 people had been caused by “DEI.” She called the Epstein files a “Democratic hoax.” She played defense for Trump’s mysterious bruises. She claimed that the Democratic Party’s main constituency was “Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.” And much, much more.

So long, Leavitt. It’s been real. Not literally, obviously, but you know what I mean.

Intelligence officials didn’t have a lot of confidence that Iran threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump after a NATO summit in Turkey last month. 

The Washington Post reported Wednesday evening that the CIA was skeptical of reports of a threat, which were relayed by Israeli intelligence and led to Trump hiding in a catering truck to be moved to an alternate military aircraft, which then flew him out of Turkey. An unnamed official told the Post that the reports were deemed “Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence.” 

Trump was originally going to fly out of Turkey aboard his new Air Force One, a Boeing 747 plane gifted to him by Qatar. But amid apparent concerns that the plane wasn’t fitted with sufficient security measures, Trump first switched to a second, older Air Force One jet before secretly leaving that plane aboard the catering truck, which took him to a military plane that flew him out with select aides. 

Despite the CIA’s doubts about the nature of the threat, the White House decided not to take any chances, leaving the media and key staff, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, aboard the older Air Force One plane. Meanwhile, Trump was on the military jet unbeknownst to the public and even some senior administration officials. 

One former official told the Post that some U.S. intelligence officials think Israel shared the plot against Trump with them not to inform the president, but to try and influence his decisions over U.S. policy and the war in Iran.  

It “fit a broader pattern of Israeli intelligence reporting that some officials see as designed as much to shape presidential decision-making as to inform it,” that former official told the publication, adding that Rubio was briefed on the intelligence behind the threat but decided to stay on the older Air Force One plane anyway, even though that plane was ostensibly in more danger.  

“I am very curious about the extent to which the Israeli-provided intelligence was not only credible but independently verifiable,” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told the Post. “I have no doubt that Iran would like to see the president gone, but this all seems a little fantastical.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt—one of the most public facing spokespersons for President Trump and the MAGA agenda—will step away from her role next month to spend more time with her family. 

“Our wonderful White House Press Secretary, and one of my most trusted aides, Karoline Leavitt, will be departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!” Trump wrote Wednesday afternoon on Truth Social. “Karoline has been a real leader in the White House, and has done a phenomenal job fighting for Justice, Liberty, and Freedom, since 2018, including our Historic Re-Election Campaign of 2024. Karoline has been one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office. Thank you, Karoline, for a job well done!” 

Leavitt first joined the Trump administration in 2020 as part of the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence, and was eventually named assistant White House press secretary. She ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in New Hampshire before making her way back to the Trump campaign, and was named press secretary in 2024, the youngest one ever at 28 years old. It is unclear who will replace her. 

Leavitt leaves a legacy of devoted bigotry behind her. She lied about Trump blocking $50 million worth of condoms to Gaza. She blamed a deadly collision between a military helicopter and an American Airlines flight that killed 67 people on DEI instead of massive cuts Trump made.  She called the Epstein files a “Democratic hoax,” and she called Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national and Maryland father wrongly deported by the Trump administration, a “foreign terrorist” and “MS-13 gang member” who was “engaged in human trafficking.” That was a lie too.