Michael Sozan

Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress @amprog. Democracy crusader. Former Senate chief of staff, DOJ. Opinions my own, retweets aren’t endorsements.

[Michael Sozan @michaelsozan]

This is hugely important and cannot get lost. As Liz Cheney said, Jim Jordan was the congressman most involved with Trump’s plans to steal the election. Not only is he unfit to be Speaker, he should be expelled from the House, as I wrote in an @amprog report last April.

[. @GregTSargent]

It appears there's some confusion on here about Jim Jordan's role in Trump's insurrection plot. So let me leave these here for you:

[Tara Setmayer 🌻 🇺🇸 @TaraSetmayer]

Trump is repeating “2020 rigged election” lies again. Why?
He’s setting it up to deny the midterm results when Republicans lose the House.

[Freedom of the Press Foundation @FreedomofPress]

“This is only the beginning”: Groups opposing Paramount merger warn “60 Minutes” firings mark what’s to come for CNN if merger approved.

Read our statement with eight other press freedom and civil society groups: https://t.co/JyMlzRWaJM

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

Pay attention.

Late last night the Trump-packed Supreme Court issued an UNSIGNED order to help Republicans erase Black voters and keep a congressional seat.

The Court's legitimacy is earned and they are burning it to the ground.

MAGA is rigging our democracy in real time!

[Michael Sozan @michaelsozan]

Important…

[Alvaro Bedoya @BedoyaUSA]

"They laid me off on my baby’s due date during maternity leave"

"My division had a bunch of people (my team included) laid off and the positions moved to Argentina."

"We used to deliver a dozen shows to them, that dwindled down to two in the past year therefore my entire department got axed."

This is what happened when David Ellison bought Paramount last year. Now, he wants to buy Warner Brothers Discovery for 13X that amount, load it down with $79 billion in debt (you read that right)... and cut $6 billion in what he calls "synergies."

If Paramount does buy WBD, it'll bankrupt thousands of writers, drivers, make-up artists, camera operators -- and hundreds more small production houses, post-production studios, caterers, independent movie theaters, you name it. And not just in Burbank. It'll happen across California and New York and New Jersey and Georgia and beyond.

But people aren't talking about that... yet. So what are we going to do about it?

Well, I'm hitting the road with the @econliberties team, we're joining arms with our friends at @DDAction_ , @FilmCoalition, @1ACommittee, @freepress (*the other one), and the giants @WGAWest and @WGAEast to hold three listening sessions where working people and small businesses can speak, on the record, about what this merger will mean to THEM.

We start *Saturday* in Los Angeles where the one and only @adamconover, Commissioner @AGomezFCC, and WGAW president @MulroneyMichele will join documentarian @Marj Safinia and I for a MAIN STREET VS. THE MERGER town hall.

Then we head to NYC on Saturday, June 13 where we'll be joined by antitrust subcommittee ranking member @SenBooker, James Schamus (of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain" fame), and WGAE executive director Sam Wheeler for a roundtable at WGAE headquarters to talk about the merger.

And finally we land in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 16, where @GabeLezra and I will be joined by @RepHankJohnson and other luminaries in Georgia's extraordinary film and TV scene to hear from the small businesses and workers in Georgia who will be affected by the merger.

RSVP link for Los Angeles is in the comments. And if you're in the press or you are a worker or small business owner worried about the merger, write me at [email protected] for a link to join the smaller NYC and ATL events.

[James Talarico @jamestalarico]

Ken Paxton was indicted for scamming his own friends.

He convinced them to invest hundreds of thousands in a company while secretly pocketing a commission.

Paxton sold out his own friends for a quick buck. What makes you think he won't sell you out in the Senate?

[Michael Sozan @michaelsozan]

@KyleClark Kyle Clark is a national treasure. An example of how journalists should work without fear or favor -- so that everyday Americans have fact-based news/info.

[Kyle Clark @KyleClark]

We ask candidates of all political persuasions about their own words and actions. If that makes them “look bad,” perhaps it’s not the fault of journalists.

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

Yes I sold paintings. About $225,000 a year over four years. The whole of my business while my father was President. Congress investigated it.

If you’re outraged about that, where is all your outrage now?

Kushner's Affinity Partners holds roughly $5 to $6 billion. Close to 99% of it comes from foreign sovereign wealth funds. Saudi Arabia. The UAE. Qatar. Over $90M in fees annually.

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

🚨BREAKING: All I can say is this is fucking so cynical I have no words. https://t.co/y3fgOAbLRJ

[Neera Tanden🌻 @neeratanden]

Literally Rubio said yesterday that the war is over.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Frankel to Rubio: "It is crazy that you want to let people in from South Africa because they can assimilate, while you're throwing out hundreds of thousands of people who have already assimilated and that are important parts of our economy and family life."

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Do people at CBS understand that Trump has only a few years left in office?

[Andrew Miller @AndrwPMiller]

.@michaelsozan and I argue that US govt regulators must block the Paramount- Warner Bros. merger to prevent foreign government influence on American media outlets. The deal is not just anticompetitive. It’s a national security threat. https://t.co/IvpR2ZPjTY

[Michael Sozan @michaelsozan]

Time to boycott CBS and Paramount+.
Remember, regulators can still try to stop Paramount's attempted merger with Warner Bros./CNN. The merger would harm consumers while endangering national security & press freedoms.
Read more in my new @amprog report: https://t.co/G5Ud4v6GLA

[Jake Sherman @JakeSherman]

HUGE scoop from @AndrewDesiderio and @LauraEWeiss16

MARK WARNER has told JOHN THUNE to try to get @pulte removed as DNI.

If he's in the job, Democrats are threatening to withhold their votes for FISA, which expires in 9 days.

FISA is at real risk of expiring due to Trump's decision to put PULTE in as DNI.

Almost certain that JOHNSON cannot put the bill on suspension now. And can he get it out of rules?

https://t.co/UkGDVuWdvX

[Jim Acosta @Acosta]

When I called out Trump years ago for being a danger to democracy, a free press, and truth itself, I was accused of making myself the story and showboating. How did things turn out? Trump is all of those things. Tonight, the free press is very much in danger in America. Wake up!

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

So let me get this straight.

Jake Tapper is focused on attacking my Mom.

Jared and Ivanka are building a private island paradise on Albanian protected land.

Don Jr married the daughter of Epstein’s banker, and a startup his fund backs just got a record $620M Pentagon loan.

Eric is taking an Israeli drone company public for $1.5B in the middle of a war with Iran that nobody wanted.

And I know: “But what about your paintings, Hunter?”

Please.

[Neera Tanden🌻 @neeratanden]

Boycott CBS

[Neera Tanden🌻 @neeratanden]

Cancel your Paramount stream
Cancel Showtime
End watching CBS
It's the least you can do

[Neera Tanden🌻 @neeratanden]

Many of the CEOs, university presidents, law firm partners buckled, but Scott Pelley, other fired CBS reporters, Alex Pretti, Rene Good and countless other Americans stood their ground.
Boycott CBS
End your Paramount stream.
It's the least you can do.