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T-Mobile is still considering merging with Sprint for $ 26 billion. This agreement would bring together the third and fourth largest mobile operators in the United States into one large company. And after the announcement of the deal in April 2018, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, T-Mobile's executives quickly began to like a California hotel run by Donald Trump.
The Post wrote that the next day, nine executives of T-Mobile, including CEO John Legere, as well as the "Director of Operations, the Chief Technology Officer, the Director of Strategy and the Chief Financial Officer of the company, "had booked a three-day visit to Trump International. Hotel. They have been back for a while:
… Since then, T-Mobile executives have been returning to President Trump's hotel several times, according to eyewitnesses and hotel documents obtained by the Washington Post.
In mid-June, seven weeks after the announcement of the merger, the hotel's records indicated that a T-Mobile officer was making his tenth visit to the hotel. Legere seems to have made at least four visits to the Trump Hotel, walking down the hall with his T-Mobile equipment.
A "VIP Arrivals" list of distinguished guests at the hotel and obtained by the Post Office "showed 38 nights of accommodation at the T-Mobile executives; because the postal data is incomplete, the number could be higher. According to the newspaper, neither T-Mobile nor the Trump organization has contested the number.
The hotel in question has long been a source of concern for Trump's detractors, who point out that the president has never divested himself of his business and has simply avoided any potential conflict of interest by claiming that his idiotic sons now lead them. .
From politicians, power brokers to Saudi-funded lobbyists, Trump has decided to stay in the Oval Office, a situation that looks like an attempt to pour money into the coffers of Trump, or at least win the favor of him and his administration. The General Inspector General of General Services (GSA) on Wednesday issued a damning report that officials of the federally owned Old Post Office Building, where the hotel is located, had mistakenly ignored constitutional concerns when renewing the lease. of Trump in 2016.
Legere told the hotel's post office last week that he was staying so often at the Trump International Hotel because of his high quality service and his safety, adding that "it's a good thing." has become a place where I feel very comfortable … town for some meetings at the Department of Justice. And it's very convenient for that.
This is surely is Convenient for meetings with DOJ, an agency with an antitrust division that is currently reviewing the T-Mobile / Sprint agreement and sometimes intervening to stop these mergers. (That's not quite sarcastic – a Google search shows that the hotel is one block away from the MJ headquarters.) Trump's MJ apparently does not seem to want to block the deal; its antitrust process is supposed to be isolated from the pressure of executive power, although the president's myriad vendettas have already threatened to pollute him.
Curiously, the Post noted that Legere was making fun of the Trump Hotel in New York City during a very public clash between the two men in 2015, adding later in his tweets that it was "so happy to wake up in a hotel where every item is unique ". t labeled 'Trump.' "
"I can not believe it's a coincidence," said Gene Kimmelman, a former DOJ antitrust lawyer. "In mergers, companies are looking for all the potential benefits they can find."
In addition to the DOJ, the Federal Communications Commission also examines the antitrust agreement. FCC Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel simply tweeted, "It does not look good."
"The GSA Legal Advisor's office acknowledged that the President's commercial interest in the lease was causing problems under the US Constitution that could result in a breach of the lease, but chose not to treat them, "reads in the report of the GSA on the lease of the Trump International Hotel. in part. "As a result, the GSA prevented the rapid resolution of these problems and instead certified the respect of a lease under a constitutional cloud.
According to the Post, shortly after meeting Legere at Trump International Hotel, the CEO started tweeting how much he liked the bar of another hotel.
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