President Donald Trump spoke for about an hour at a dinner hosted by David Ellison in Washington, D.C., on Thursday night that was meant to “honor” him and celebrate the First Amendment, sources tell Variety.
Ellison organized the event in honor of President Trump (and to recognize CBS News’ White House reporters). His Paramount Skydance company is seeking regulatory approval from the Trump administration’s Justice Department for its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. On Wednesday, WBD shareholders overwhelmingly approved the company’s sale to Paramount.
In addition to President Trump and senior administration officials, those in attendance included CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss. Norah O’Donnell, former CBS Evening News anchor. Tom Sibrowski, President of CBS News. Jan Crawford, the network’s chief legal correspondent. White House Chief Correspondent Nancy Cordes. and Weijia Jiang, White House correspondent for CBS News and president of the White House Correspondents Association. Officials have confirmed these attendees, and the New York Times first reported.
The theme of the event was to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the First Amendment, but the topic of free speech did not come up much during President Trump’s remarks, sources told Variety. (In fact, the First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights were adopted on December 15, 1791, 235 years ago.)
Ironically, Trump has faced criticism for violating press freedoms, including a series of lawsuits he has filed against news organizations. That includes criticism of CBS News over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, in which Paramount’s previous owners settled with Trump for $16 million before merging with Skydance.
The Times reported that Weiss and his wife, Nellie Bowles, “joined Ellison at Trump’s table.” Also at the table were First Lady Melania Trump and Paramount’s chief legal officer Makan Delrahim, who served as the Justice Department’s antitrust official during Trump’s first term.
Ellison’s dinner guests included Todd Blanche, who took over the role of acting U.S. attorney general after President Trump fired Pam Bondi earlier this month. As the Times noted, “Mr. Blanche oversees the Justice Department, whose antitrust division will review the Warner Bros. acquisition.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also attended the ceremony, according to reports.
What President Trump said in his hour-long speech was not detailed in the Times report. Sources told Variety that the president spoke about a variety of topics, including what he thought was the inferior quality of the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial, which he said he has improved.
Two sources told Variety that the night was calm. Dinner was served late due to President Trump’s lengthy remarks.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) had this to say about Ellison’s Trump-celebrating event, writing on X: “Ellison and the information oligarchs should enjoy this event while they can, because when the Democrats take over, we’re going to smash the anti-consumer, anti-free speech media conglomerates to smithereens.”
According to the Times article, CBS News staffers said they were “confused within the CBS newsroom that this incident could give the impression of coziness between the news department and the Trump administration.”
A Paramount Skydance spokesperson declined to comment. The White House and CBS News did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
The event will be held two days before the White House Correspondents’ Association Annual Dinner on Saturday, April 25, and President Trump is expected to attend. The April 23 dinner hosted by Mr. Ellison began with cocktails at 6:15 p.m. and was held at the United States Institute of Peace. In December, the State Department announced that the institute would be renamed the Donald J. Trump Peace Institute.
After Paramount Skydance beat out Netflix and acquired Warner Bros., CNN staffers privately expressed concerns that Paramount’s pro-Trump ownership would lead CNN’s reporting toward a more conservative ideological slant. Mr. Weiss’ digital news organization, The Free Press, was acquired by Paramount last fall, causing turmoil within the CBS News ranks since taking over the division. Ellison promised that CNN’s “editorial independence will absolutely be maintained” under the combined Paramount and WBD.
