Heavy rain fall (Photography by Keith Getter (all rights reserved)/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Up to 100,000 people in Washington state could be ordered to evacuate amid a threat of “catastrophic” flooding from an atmospheric river event, officials said.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, who announced a state of emergency on Wednesday, pleaded with residents to follow evacuation orders and warned on social media, “Catastrophic flooding is likely.”
In Skagit County, north of Seattle, officials called for evacuations amid the major flooding, saying “residents within the FEMA 100-year floodplain need to evacuate to high ground immediately.”
Multiple rivers are at major flood stage and more are expected to grow into major flood stage later in the day on Thursday.
The Snohomish River at Snohomish reached a record high of 33.9 feet on Thursday morning, and it may stay near this level for 24 hours. The floodwaters are expected inundate much of the river valley and could overtop the levees.
Record flooding is possible at other river locations, including the Skagit River near Concrete and near Mount Vernon, the Snoqualmie River at Snoqualmie Falls, the Cedar River at Renton, and the Snohomish River near Snohomish Monroe.
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell said on social media she was “alarmed” to hear the Skagit River could peak as high as 5 feet above its record crest level.
“Please please please stay alert and follow evacuation orders,” she posted. “This is not just another flood.”
Roads are flooded and closed across North Bend — a city about 30 miles east of Seattle — and mudslides have closed parts of Interstate 90.
Eastside Fire and Rescue, which services parts of King County just east of Seattle, started conducting water rescues on Wednesday. Three adults and a dog were rescued after their home flooded, and two adults and a child were rescued in another incident.
Eastside Fire and Rescue released video of the moment two drivers were rescued rescued by helicopter Wednesday night. After the drivers were caught in the floodwaters, they were forced to flee to higher ground, with one person climbing to the top of their car and the other seeking safety in a tree, officials said.
“Stay home and don’t travel unless necessary,” the sheriff’s office urged on Thursday.
The flooding was sparked by an atmospheric river event that dumped more than 1 foot of rain at higher elevations of western Washington state over the last three days. The heavy rain is continuing Thursday morning and then will weaken throughout the day.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) looks on as senators speak to reporters following a Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on December 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate is now voting on two separate plans aimed at addressing a spike in health care costs that are expected for tens of millions of Americans who receive enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits unless Congress acts.
Both plans, one put forward by Democrats and the other championed by Republicans, are almost certain to fail.
After they do, lawmakers will have only a matter of days remaining to address the expiration of the enhanced tax credits, and there’s little indication that any sort of breakthrough is on the horizon.
Democratic plan: 3-year extension of expiring enhanced tax credits
The Democratic plan that will receive a vote on Thursday proposes a three-year extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are otherwise set to expire on Jan. 1. The enhanced subsidies were originally put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During remarks on the floor Wednesday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Democratic plan the “only realistic path left” to address the looming premium spike.
“We have 21 days until Jan. 1. After that, people’s health care bills will start going through the roof. Double, triple, even more,” Schumer said. “There is only one way to avoid all of this. The only realistic path left is what Democrats are proposing — a clean direct extension of this urgent tax credit.”
Even though Democrats are in the minority, they are getting a vote on their proposal, as part of a deal struck by a small group of Senate moderates to re-open the federal government after a 43-day shutdown, which centered around Democrats’ efforts to address the expiring tax credits.
“What we need to do is prevent premiums from skyrocketing and only our bill does it is the last train out of the station,” Schumer said.
But any health care proposal in the Senate will require 60 votes to pass, which means members of both parties would need to lend votes to approve a plan.
Majority Leader John Thune made clear Wednesday that Republicans will not support the Democratic plan.
Thune called the Democratic proposal a “partisan messaging exercise” and said that Democrats’ claim that their plan would lower health care costs represented a “tour of fantasy land.”
Republicans have for months been saying that the premium subsidies require reform. Without changes, Republicans say, the enhanced subsidies create opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse and have driven up the overall cost of premiums.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Senate Democrats’ proposal would add nearly $83 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade. CBO also estimates that enacting the Democrats’ legislation would increase the number of people with health insurance by 8.5 million people by 2029.
Pointing to the cost of extending the subsidies, Thune said, Democrats ought to put forward a program that makes modifications to the program.
“That’s not what they did …No changes,” Thune said. “Just continue to run up the cost. Run up the cost in the individual marketplace like that — but have the American taxpayers pay for it and then go tell people that you’re trying to keep their premiums down,” Thune said. “This does nothing, nothing, to lower the cost of health insurance.”
Republican plan: Do away with the enhanced tax credits and create HSAs
Republicans will offer an “alternative” plan on the Senate floor on Thursday.
The Republican proposal, championed by Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, would do away with the enhanced tax credits and instead take the extra money from those tax credits and put it into health savings accounts for those who purchase bronze-level or “catastrophic” plans on the ACA exchanges. Republicans say this will help Americans pay for out-of-pocket costs.
Under the plan, individuals earning less than 700% of the federal poverty level would receive $1,000 in HSA funding for those between age 18 and 49 and $1,500 for those age 50-64. Republicans say these funds could be used to help cover the higher deductibles on lower cost plans.
Republicans say that their plan will reduce premiums through cost-sharing reductions and tout that the plan stops payments to insurance companies. Thune called it a “very different business model” than what Democrats are proposing.
“The question is do you want the government deciding this, ordo you want to put this power and these resources in the hands of the American people?” Thune said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “American taxpayers. Patients. That’ what we’re about.“
This bill is also unlikely to pass the Senate on Thursday. Schumer called it “dead on arrival”.
“I want to be very clear about what this Republican bill represents, junk insurance,” Schumer said. “Let me tell my Republican colleagues: it is dead on arrival. The proposal does nothing to bring down sky-high premiums; it doesn’t extend the ACA premiums by a single day. Instead, Republicans want to send people $80 dollars and pretend that is going to fix everything.” Schumer said.
Cassidy this morning called Schumer’s categorization of his plan as a “junk plan” “so ironic.”
“These are Obamacare plans. These are the plans they put in place, except that when they did the plans, they’ve got $6,000 deductibles, or $7,500 deductibles. We addressed that deductible. We make these plans better,” Cassidy said. “We Republicans are trying to make it better. We want money in your pocket for your out-of-pocket [costs], and they want you to front the whole thing.”
Democrats also take umbrage with provisions in the GOP bill that prevent funds from being used for abortions. Schumer, on the Senate floor, called it a “poison pill.”
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee, was asked if she saw any way that Democrats could support the bill today.
“Not with the choice issues in it, where they have made it that women cannot get access to an abortion through their plan,” Murray said. “I don’t see any way that this helps the people that are being hurt right now by the tax credits going away.”
Luigi Mangione (L) appears with his lawyers for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 8, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Yenesel – Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione returned to court in New York City Thursday for a sixth day of a hearing to determine what evidence will, or will not, be used against him when he goes on trial on charges of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk last December.
The day began with an argument by the defense that prosecutors were trying to “prejudice Mr. Mangione” by releasing CCTV footage that showed the killing of Thompson and the aftermath, in which the suspect is seen running across the street as bystanders point in the suspect’s direction.
The defense argued prosecutors had no reason to include the footage in the suppression hearing and accused them of using it as a “vehicle to litigate their case in the court of public opinion” and to “distract from the botched arrest” of Mangione.
Judge Gregory Carro agreed the video is not at issue in the suppression hearing, but said, “We deal with it the way we deal with all the press this case has gotten: in jury selection.”
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office are calling to stand supervisory police officers present at the Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s where Mangione was apprehended after customers thought they recognized the suspect wanted in New York due to his distinctive eyebrows.
Lt. William Hanelly, the highest-ranking officer present at the McDonald’s where Luigi Mangione was arrested, testified that he called 911 in New York City on his way to the scene “so we could get the ball rolling.”
“We’re acting off a tip from a local business here,” Hanelly is heard saying on a recording played in court. “We might have the shooter.”
Hanelly is then heard clarifying, “The shooter from the UHC,” referring to United Healthcare by its initials. Hanelly also says that the individual at the McDonald’s “matches the photos that your department put out.”
Mangione listened from the defense table as the previously unheard phone call played in the courtroom.
Hanelly stayed on the phone as he arrived at the McDonald’s and the call captured him asking one of his subordinates, “Did you pat him down?”
“At that point we had reasonable suspicion to believe he had been involved in a crime of violence in another jurisdiction,” Hanelly testified. “He could be armed and dangerous.”
Hanelly said he had heard the initial call over the radio dispatching patrolman Joseph Detwiler to the McDonald’s and Detwiler’s “fairly sarcastic” response. Hanelly testified that while “it seemed preposterous” to him a shooting suspect from a New York City homicide had found his way to Altoona, but texted Detwiler “a gentle reminder” to treat the possibility seriously.
The supervisors, a sergeant and two corporals, briefly were overheard on body camera footage debating whether officers needed a warrant to conduct more than a cursory search of Mangione’s backpack, from which police were seen on the footage retrieving the alleged murder weapon, writings, and a note that prosecutors said mentioned “escape routes.”
Defense attorneys say the lack of a warrant made the search and seizure illegal, and they are seeking to preclude the contents of the bag.
They also argue officers were too late reading Mangione his Miranda rights and continued to pepper him with questions after he indicated he preferred to remain silent.
The officers have testified that they lawfully searched Mangione’s backpack pursuant to his arrest for showing them a fake ID, and said they were legitimately concerned Mangione may have had a weapon or explosive.
The officers also testified their questions to Mangione’s about his fake ID and whether his bag contained anything harmful were appropriate under the circumstances.
Prosecutors are expected to rest next week. Judge Gregory Carro is expected to issue a written decision about the evidence sometime in January.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally and prayer vigil for him before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said in her order Thursday that “since Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.”
Xinis said that the absence of a removal order prevents the government from removing Abrego Garcia from the United States.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities and is currently being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a social media post following the ruling, “This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge. This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”
Last month, the federal government — seeking to deport Abrego Garcia to the West African nation of Liberia — asked Xinis to dissolve a ban on his removal to that country, saying it had received assurances from the Liberian government that he would not be persecuted or tortured should he be deported there.
In her order Thursday, Judge Xinis directed the government to notify Abrego Garcia of the exact time and location of his release and to notify the court no later than 5 p.m. ET today.
In the 31-page order granting Abrego Garcia’s habeas petition, Xinis detailed Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador, his return to the U.S. to face criminal charges, and his re-detention in immigration custody.
“The circumstances of Abrego Garcia’s detention since he was released from criminal custody cannot be squared with the ‘basic purpose’ of holding him to effectuate removal,” Xinis said.
Xinis, citing reporting from ABC News and others, said the government at the same time could have removed Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica, his preferred country of removal.
“Respondents’ calculated effort to take Costa Rica ‘off the table’ backfired,” Xinis wrote. “Within 24 hours, Costa Rica, through Minister Zamora Cordero, communicated to multiple news sources that its offer to grant Abrego Garcia residence and refugee status is, and always has been, firm, unwavering, and unconditional.”
“Respondents serially ‘notified’ Abrego Garcia — while he sat in ICE custody — of his expulsion to Uganda, then Eswatini, then Ghana; but none of these countries were ever viable options,” Xinis wrote.
The judge said Abrego Garcia will receive instruction from the United States Pretrial Services Office on the release conditions previously imposed in his criminal case.
Xinis in August blocked the government from removing Abrego Garcia from the United States until the habeas case challenging his removal was resolved in court.
“The history of Abrego Garcia’s case is as well known as it is extraordinary,” Xinis wrote in her decision Thursday.
In this photo illustration, a silhouetted individual is seen holding a mobile phone with a Sora of ChatGPT OpenAI logo displayed in the background. (Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Walt Disney Company on Thursday announced plans to invest $1 billion in artificial intelligence company OpenAI, in a deal that will grant the company access to copyrighted characters from “Star Wars,” Marvel and other properties for users of AI short-form video generator Sora.
“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement on Thursday.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The Pentagon, heaquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, is seen from the air on February 8, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A report prepared by Democratic members of Congress says the Pentagon has diverted at least $2 billion of its own funds to support the Trump administration’s immigration operations, negatively impacting what they say is the U.S. military’s readiness.
Separately, a response from Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to questions posed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that was shared with ABC News disclosed that two major military exercises were canceled this year and a third was scaled back as a result of the deployment of military forces to immigration operations.
Caine said that both the “Vibrant Response” exercise scheduled for April and May, as well as a rotation by the 10th Mountain Division at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, over the summer were canceled because of the deployment.
The large-scale national “Ardent Sentry” exercise in March that U.S. Northern Command uses to train responses to chemical, radiological, biological and nuclear incidents was also “Descoped” according to Caine’s response.
In a statement to ABC News about the report, the Pentagon said with a $1 trillion budget it’s able to carry out multiple missions simultaneously.
Compiled from open source information and reprogramming requests made by the Pentagon to Congress, the review of Pentagon border funding by Democrats in Congress found that $1.3 billion of that amount had been diverted to pay for the deployment of troops and resources to the Southwest border with Mexico.
The report cited a Pentagon request to Congress in late May to reprogram $200 million in funds approved for worldwide military construction projects to construct a 30-foot-high steel bollard barrier along a 20-mile stretch of the border near Yuma, Arizona.
The diverted funds were originally slated to pay for the construction of new military facilities, including military housing, and two elementary schools run by the DOD’s Education Activity (DODEA) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Stuttgart, Germany.
The deployment of active duty forces to the Southwest Border began in January shortly after the start of President Donald Trump’s second term with more than 7,000 personnel assigned to support federal law enforcement agencies operating along the border.
Since April, the Trump administration has designated military zones covering large swaths of the border where U.S. forces have the authority to temporarily detain any migrants trespassing what are now considered to be extensions of military bases.
On Wednesday, the Interior Department announced that a fourth National Defense Area had been established along California’s border with Mexico. Previous NDA designations stretched along the border in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
The Democrats’ review found that the high-profile deployment of federalized National Guard and active-duty troops to Los Angeles; Chicago; Portland, Oregon; and Memphis, Tennessee, has cost at least $258 million.
At least $420 million was diverted to assist with the detention of immigrants at military bases in the United States as well as overseas bases at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, according to the report.
The review found that least $40.3 million has been spent on paying for the U.S. military flights used to deport and transport migrants back to their home countries instead of using the cheaper flights contracted by the Department of Homeland Security.
“This is a baffling waste of military resources considering the appropriation of $170 billion to DHS to fund immigration enforcement earlier this year,” said the report. It added that the information used to compile the report indicated that “the vast majority of these funds have not been reimbursed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to date.”
“We are particularly concerned that DHS may not be reimbursing DoD for these funds,” a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a letter that included a copy of the report. “Allowing DHS to continue to pick DoD’s pockets puts our military readiness at risk.”
The Pentagon’s press secretary said in a statement that because of its large annual budget the Department is able to carry out a variety of operations.
“The Pentagon, which operates on an annual budget of nearly $1 Trillion is able to execute on many missions at the same time, including operations with DHS, improvements for DODEA, and facility constructions across the country and the world,” said Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary.
“Many additional priorities have been funded thanks to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill,” she added, referring to President Donald Trump’s signature tax and policy bill approved by Congress over the summer. “Spending allocated money on one mission does not mean other missions become depleted.”
The report was released by Warren and Rep. James Garamendi, D-Calif., who criticized the Trump administration for what they said was an unnecessary diversion of funds at the expense of military readiness.
In a statement Warren criticized Hegseth and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for “using the defense budget as a slush fund for political stunts.”
“It’s an insult to our service members that Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem are using the defense budget as a slush fund for political stunts,” Warren said in a statement. “Stripping military resources to promote a wasteful political agenda doesn’t make our military stronger or Americans safer.”
In a separate statement, Garamendi said: “Diverting over $2 billion in funds siphons money away from training, modernization, and maintenance: core investments that should support military families and prepare our forces to fight and win.”
On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing with top Pentagon officials including Gen. Gregory Guillot, the commander of U.S. Northern Command, to discuss the deployment of federalized National Guardsmen to several U.S. cities.
The hearing is expected to touch on the legality of the deployments and whether they were necessary.
Luigi Mangione (L) appears with his lawyers for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 8, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Yenesel – Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione returns to court in New York City Thursday for a sixth day of a hearing to determine what evidence will, or will not, be used against him when he goes on trial on charges of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk last December.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office are expected to call supervisory police officers present at the Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s where Mangione was apprehended after customers thought they recognized the suspect wanted in New York due to his distinctive eyebrows.
The supervisors, a sergeant and two corporals, briefly were overheard on body camera footage debating whether officers needed a warrant to conduct more than a cursory search of Mangione’s backpack, from which police were seen on the footage retrieving the alleged murder weapon, writings, and a note that prosecutors said mentioned “escape routes”
Defense attorneys say the lack of a warrant made the search and seizure illegal, and they are seeking to preclude the contents of the bag.
They also argue officers were too late reading Mangione his Miranda rights and continued to pepper him with questions after he indicated he preferred to remain silent.
The officers have testified that they lawfully searched Mangione’s backpack pursuant to his arrest for showing them a fake ID, and said they were legitimately concerned Mangione may have had a weapon or explosive.
The officers also testified their questions to Mangione’s about his fake ID and whether his bag contained anything harmful were appropriate under the circumstances.
Prosecutors are expected to rest next week. Judge Gregory Carro is expected to issue a written decision about the evidence sometime in January.
David Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Skydance Corp., center, outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Paramount launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery this week, just days after Netflix struck a deal to acquire the legacy media company.
The rival multi-billion dollar efforts to purchase streaming platform HBO Max and movie studio Warner Bros., among other assets, could upend the media industry and shape content viewed by hundreds of millions of people.
For now, the outcome remains highly uncertain. Any acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would likely be reviewed by the Trump administration, which could move to block a proposed merger over anti-monopoly concerns, according to antitrust experts from Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee and the Cardozo Law School.
The government approval process could take anywhere from several months to more than a year, the experts said.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Here’s what to know about the government hurdles faced by a potential blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros:
What government hurdles await a bid from Netflix or Paramount?
Streaming giant Netflix appeared to win the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery last week, when the two firms announced a merger. Within days, however, Paramount launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, meaning Paramount plans to appeal to shareholders in an effort to overcome the wishes of management.
The $108 billion bid from Paramount encompasses the HBO Max streaming service, the Warner Bros. film production company and cable channels such as CNN. Netflix established its agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery at a lower price of $83 billion, though the Netflix offer excluded the cable channels.
Ultimately, the prevailing bid for Warner Bros. Discovery — whether from Paramount or Netflix — will likely face scrutiny from the Trump administration that could doom the proposal if agency officials consider the newly created company in violation of anti-monopoly law, experts said.
An antitrust review of the merger would draw on a standard established in the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, some experts said. The law prohibits mergers in which “the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly.”
As part of its assessment, Trump officials would examine the market share of the newly created company, especially with regard to whether it could result in higher prices for consumers or reduced fees for creators selling content to media companies, Maurice Stucke, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, told ABC News.
An antitrust review could also focus on the potential impact on content distributors, such as movie theaters, Stucke noted.
“It’s not just a question of higher prices,” Stucke said. “It could be less content, less choice, less innovation and a decrease in quality — all of those could be a concern.”
If the Trump administration considers a potential merger illegal, a federal agency could seek a settlement under terms that would assuage government concerns.
Typically, the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice (DOJ) are tasked with settlement negotiations or legal action tied to antitrust concerns.
In June, for instance, the DOJ announced a settlement agreement that permitted Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, a digital infrastructure firm. The settlement requires HPE to divest a part of its business and license Juniper Network’s critical software to competitors, the DOJ said.
If a settlement between the government and the firm cannot be reached, the Trump administration may move to sue the company in an effort to block the merger. A lawsuit would present a task for the Trump administration, Stucke said: “How do you prove this in court?”
The potential merger could also receive scrutiny from state-level regulators or the European Union.
How may regulators weigh a bid from Netflix or Paramount?
Proposals from Netflix or Paramount could each raise antitrust concerns, but for slightly different reasons, some experts said.
Netflix is the most popular streaming service, boasting 300 million subscribers worldwide as of late 2024, the most recent time for which data is available. The company accounts for 46% of mobile app monthly active users in global streaming, according to a CNBC analysis of data from intelligence firm Sensor Tower. After acquiring HBO Max, that share of app users would rise to 60%, CNBC said.
“Netflix has studios and a big chunk of streaming,” Sam Weinstein, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law who focuses on antitrust, told ABC News. “If you think that’s a market, they might have a big enough chunk that they can raise prices to impact streamers.”
“On the other hand, they’re a big buyer of projects. Creators might think, ‘Well now there’s one less studio to bid on my work,” he added.
Netflix may seek a broad definition of the market that includes consumers of online video, such as YouTube and short-form social media content, rather than merely traditional streaming, according to Weinstein.
“In that larger market, Netflix has a much smaller share,” Weinstein said.
Speaking to reporters on an earrings call on Friday, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos voiced confidence about government approval of the merger.
“This deal is pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker, it’s pro-creator, it’s pro-growth,” Sarandos said, adding that the firm would “work really closely with all the appropriate governments and regulators.”
Paramount+ counts a smaller streaming audience than Netflix, recording about 79.1 million subscribers in September 2025, or less than a third of the audience of Netflix. The comparatively small market share for streaming could lessen concern among regulators about the potential to push up prices for consumers, some experts said.
Still, Paramount boasts a movie studio of its own, Paramount Pictures, presenting a risk of decreased competition for content production in the event of a potential merger, Rebecca Allensworth, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, told ABC News. In turn, TV shows or movies could command lower prices for creators, while actors or other workers could lose out on pay, she noted.
“At this moment, you can approach either Warner or Paramount as competitive studios,” Allensworth said. “This will take away one of those options.”
Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison addressed antitrust concerns, saying the offer from Paramount compares favorably to the one from Netflix when considered through the lens of preserving a competitive industry.
“What we’re creating by putting these two companies together is a real competitor to Netflix, a real competitor to Amazon, a real competitor to Disney — not something that is so anti-competitive,” Ellison said.
Could the Trump administration take into account issues unrelated to competition?
The Trump administration may retain leeway to consider issues unrelated to competition, including potential agreements surrounding coverage at new outlets such as Warner Bros. Discovery-owned CNN, some experts said, noting the murky nature of antitrust law.
“A speeding violation or murder is fairly clear cut,” Stucke said. “With bringing an antitrust claim, there’s a lot of discretion.”
Trump, a frequent critic of major news outlets including CNN, told reporters on Sunday that he would “be involved” in the decision on a potential Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Trump’s willingness to take a direct role in deal evaluation departs from standard practice in which the president has sought to distance himself from antitrust reviews, Weinstein noted.
“The norm is that the White House wouldn’t get involved — that definitely isn’t happening here,” he said.
Speaking on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center honors on Sunday, Trump raised antitrust concerns about a potential Netflix acquisition, saying the deal “could be a problem” due to the market share of the new firm.
The circumstances afford the Trump administration leverage to extract potential concessions from a buyer like Netflix or Paramount, since in each case the purchase presents legitimate antitrust issues, granting Trump an opportunity to exercise robust oversight of the merger while seeking a favorable settlement, Allensworth said.
“Because antitrust law would likely find at least serious problems with the merger, Trump can make that all go away on terms that he agrees to,” Allensworth added.
Weinstein agreed, suggesting that their may be a court-enforceable agreement.
“It’s entirely possible you might have a consent decree with conditions that are non-competitive,” Weinstein said.
As part of a process seeking Federal Communications Commission approval for its $8 billion acquisition of Paramount earlier this year, Skydance agreed to a series of concessions that appeared to align with the views of the Trump administration, including agreements to forego implementation of diversity, equity or inclusion programs and appoint an ombudsman.
In a statement when the acquisition was approved in July, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the changes aimed to improve public trust in mainstream news outlets like CBS.
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,” Carr said. “That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
Experts underscored the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of a potential review of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
“If it’s a straight-up merger under antitrust guidelines, that’s one thing,” Weinstein said. “If you can win favor of the administration by making promises, that makes the deal unpredictable.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine president, during a meeting at Downing Street in London, UK, on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Tolga Akmen/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down at least 287 Ukrainian drones overnight into Thursday morning, soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previewed more meetings with foreign partners regarding a possible peace deal.
Forty of the drones were shot down over the Moscow region, 32 of which the Defense Ministry said were “flying toward Moscow.”
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram that emergency services had been dispatched to several sites where falling drone debris was reported.
A spokesperson for Rosaviatsiya, Russia’s federal air transport agency, said in posts to Telegram that temporary flight restrictions were introduced at all four of Moscow’s airports.
The latest exchanges came soon after Zelenskyy said his negotiating team was “finalizing work on the 20 points of a fundamental document that could define the parameters for ending the war.”
Zelenskyy was referring to the 20-point peace settlement proposal that Ukrainian, U.S. and European leaders have been working on for several weeks.
A Ukrainian official close to the peace talks told ABC News on Thursday morning that Ukraine had handed the U.S. a revised 20-point peace plan.
The official noted that the revised plan contains “some new ideas” regarding territories and control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
“This is not a new version, it is the same 20 points, only some of them have been slightly rethought,” the official said.
Ukrainian and American negotiating teams are expected to hold online consultations on Thursday regarding the peace plan, but the main topic will be security guarantees, not the revised points of the plan.
“Right now, there are three documents: the basic 20 points, the security guarantees and the document on the economy and reconstruction,” the Ukrainian official told ABC News. “Yesterday, we discussed the economy, today the guarantees.”
Russia continued its long-range strike campaign on Ukraine overnight.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 151 drones and three missiles into the country on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, of which 83 drones and two missiles were shot down. Impacts of one missile and 63 drones were reported across 34 locations, the air force said.
Zelenskyy said in a Wednesday social media post that a meeting with the “Coalition of the Willing” — a group of mostly European leaders backing Ukraine — was planned for Thursday.
“Ukraine is working swiftly; every visit and every negotiation we conduct always yields practical results for our defense and for our resilience,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan leaves the Milwaukee Federal Courthouse on May 15, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(MILWAUKEE) — Jury selection is set to begin on Thursday in the federal trial of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of concealing an undocumented man to prevent his arrest by immigration authorities.
The court has scheduled jury selection over two days, with the trial set to begin on Monday in Milwaukee.
Prosecutors have told the court they expect to have 25 to 28 witnesses.
Dugan was arrested in April and charged in a two-count federal indictment alleging obstruction of official Department of Homeland Security removal proceedings and knowingly concealing the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, from immigration authorities.
According to federal prosecutors, Dugan encountered federal agents who were at the Milwaukee County Circuit Court on April 18 to arrest Flores-Ruiz, who was appearing in her courtroom on a battery charge.
Prosecutors say that after speaking to the agents, Dugan directed them to the chief judge’s office down the hall and then sent Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a non-public door in an alleged attempt, authorities claim, to help him evade arrest on immigration violations.
Dugan has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Her lawyers have called her arrest “virtually unprecedented” and sought to dismiss the case, arguing she has judicial immunity for official acts and her prosecution is unconstitutional. Judge Lynn Adelman denied the motion, finding that there was “no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job.'”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan in the wake of her arrest, stating in an order that it found it was “in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
Flores-Ruiz, a native of Mexico, was later arrested and charged with unlawful reentry into the U.S.
He was sentenced to time served earlier this month after pleading guilty to the charge, federal court records show. DHS said last month he had been deported.
