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At a hearing before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Tuesday, the legislator questioned T-Mobile's chief executive officer, John Legere, about the company's expenses at the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC focusing on stays at the hotel following the announcement of its plans to merge with Sprint last spring.
Democratic lawmakers like representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Hank Johnson (D-GA) asked Legere if the company was seeking Trump administration approval for the merger approval. Legislators were particularly concerned by reports that President Trump had tried to interfere in the merger between AT & T and Time Warner last week and feared Trump would be involved in the new telecommunications merger.
"There are reasons to consider this question of what happened in Trump hotels, as it is clear from a number of reports that … Trump seems to be in favor. to be involved in the AT & T-Time Warner merger, "Jayapal said. "We want to make sure that this does not happen today."
In January, The Washington Post reported that T-Mobile's executives had stayed at the Trump Hotel in Washington the day after the company announced its $ 26 billion deal with Sprint. the To post later, the nine executives spent 52 nights at the hotel after the announcement and spent a total of $ 195,000 at the Trump Hotel in the last 10 months, out of a total of 1 , $ 4 million spent on professional hotels during the period.
If approved, the merger will bring the country's national wireless pool from four to three major providers. Critics argued that the merger would reduce competition, lead to higher prices for wireless service plans for consumers, and result in job losses.
Legere asserted that he was not devoid of personality for him or other people in the company to stay at the Trump Hotel, claiming he had long been a customer of the Trump Hotel. "If I can add, I made the decision," Legere said. "I am a long time customer of the Trump hotel, long before this transaction."
Legere's response to the charges did not allay the concerns of lawmakers. Jayapal pointed out a Twitter argument between Legere and Trump on the quality of a hotel stay in 2015. Legere then deleted his tweets intended for Trump, where he disparaged the hotel and told stated that he would never want to come back, although it's hard to know when exactly. have been removed. However, members seemed concerned that this was another possible attempt to gain favor with the merger.
"It does not pass the scent test for the American public," Johnson said.
Republicans have criticized their fellow Democrats throughout the hearing for not insisting the witnesses on the effects of the merger on consumers, but for political doubts with the Trump administration. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who criticized the Trump Hotel a few years ago, said: "I've already said that I would never stay in a La Quinta hotel and that I stayed in a La Quinta hotel afterwards. "
In another hearing analyzing the merger last month, legislators in the House did not ask any questions about hotel stays or deleted tweets.
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