California Attorney General Rob Bonta Talks Canceled Paramount Talks | Bloomberg Talks

0:02 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. >> And now to turn back to the breaking news we were discussing involving the Supreme Court this hour. Let's get live reaction now from the Attorney General of California, Rob Bont. Mr. Attorney General, welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. We were just discussing with our colleague Greg Store about how the Supreme Court is simply allowing this to move forward for now. This is by no means a final ruling, but is it one that California would have to accept if the justices ultimately do decide on the merits that the suggestions the president President Trump has pushed the US postal service to make regarding mail and ballots do move forward.

0:42 >> We're a long way from that. This is a purely procedural order. ruling on things called standing and justice just meaning is is it ripe? Is it ready to be even a case that can go to court and be decided on? And so it's it's not anywhere near the merit stage yet. They haven't talked about the merits. they were waiting for a final rule to be issued on this executive order relating to u in our in our view the unconstitutional unlawful use of the US Postal Service to undermine free and fair voting by eligible American voters across the country. And so we are prepared to bring a lawsuit on the final rule now that the rule is final and that will tee up the the merits the substance of the executive order its legality or as we argue lack thereof. so that will go back to federal trial court and appellet court and should it ever get to the US Supreme Court of course as we always do we will honor their ruling but we think we will win this case at in every court including the federal trial court, the appellet court and the US Supreme Court.

1:49 We appreciate your weighing in on that, Attorney General, and welcome back to Bloomberg. We invited you to talk about a number of issues including Paramount's merger with Warner Brothers. You were supposed to meet with Paramount today, and there's been a lot of reporting about this that you canled that meeting, accusing the company of playing games. What happened? >> Yeah, I pulled down the meeting today because in my view, Paramount was being too cute. They were playing games.

2:14 They were disclosing through leaks to the press information that's supposed to be confidential and lying about it. They were leaking lies to the press and in order to have productive and legally compliant settlement negotiations that they need to be confidential. there needs to be some trust in the room. There needs to be opportunity to share ideas, be candid, maybe be creative and they undermine that by violating the rules of engagement. It's something that most attorneys never do, but they decided to do it. and so that was a problem for us. we did have some preliminary early settlement negotiations on Friday and then on Saturday and Sunday we started reading about the alleged substance of those conversations in the press where they were naming sources that had to be Paramount Warner Brothers. So that doesn't work. That doesn't fly.

3:05 So we rescheduled or we took down the the meeting until such time as they are prepared to follow the rules. Well, we should note that Paramount in a statement denied being the source of any leaks, Mr. Attorney General. They said they share your concerns about the public discussions and misreporting that has surrounded this deal. Quote, "As we have assured the Attorney General's office, Paramount has not been the source of any of the leaks or of any of our contraential discussions with the AG's office." un you obviously understand this went down a very different way but has this meeting been rescheduled or does that statement indicate that you and Paramount have not found a way to see eye to eye on on movement forward?

3:46 >> It's completely on them and let me just first say this idea that that they're not responsible someone's responsible for the leaks. They don't just appear out of thin air. They have an army of attorneys. They have an army of consultants. They need to figure out who's responsible, put a lid on it, end it and move forward in the appropriate way. and can it's up to them whether they can are interested in or will do that. As soon as they do, we're ready to sit down and talk. So, that can be soon if they can address the issue soon.

4:13 >> I'm sure your phone is ringing a lot lately, attorney general, not just with the legal representatives on both sides of this, but from politicians in your state. There are growing calls to reach a settlement for the sake of jobs, for the sake of the Hollywood industry. and one of them is Governor Nuomo. Are you now fundamentally at odds with the governor over this deal? >> Not at all. I I think I'm fundamentally consistent with him, with governor to be Javier Bera, w with others. You know, we've always said, I've said it before, I I I'll say it now, I'll say it in the future, we always prefer to be able to resolve disputes in the boardroom, not the courtroom. if a opposing party in one of our lawsuits in good faith and sincerely reaches out to us to try to productively resolve a case, we'll take that meeting and we'll we'll work to resolve the case. So, what they're asking for is what I've always said and what I will do here if Paramount can get their their their themselves in order and and fix their their issues with these lying leaks and engage the right way.

5:16 Well, when we consider the engagement and what you hope to get out of it, Mr. Attorney General, what in your mind would resolve your concerns around consolidation and eroding competition? Might it require the sale of Paramount Pictures or or Warner Warner Brothers Studios? Is there a way to address your concerns without that? >> Well, we've always said that we want structural remedies, robust structural remedies. I've said that publicly and Paramount knows exactly what that is. whether they will propose them or agree to them is is up to them. But they they've continuously proposed behavioral remedies like promising to behave in a way that in which they make 30 movies a year I think for three years. That's a behavioral remedy. It's not structural.

5:59 So we've identified three markets in our complaint with respect to widespread theatrical release distribution, blockbuster release distribution and cable channel licensing. And there is a if they want to propose a structural remedy for each of those markets, we'll listen. Last time we had a chance to speak attorney general, it was on the eve of the trial against Meta starting something that you have helped to spearhead as one of four attorneys general. How is the trial proceeding and will we hear from Mark Zuckerberg?

6:30 >> We think it's going very well. the evidence has have been coming in as we hoped and very compelling providing all sorts of evidentiary support for our allegations which which I think are very strong that Meta designed and deployed a dangerous product that hurt the mental health mental health of kids and they lied about it and we do have Mark Zuckerberg on our witness list and prepared we're prepared to call him. Well, do you have a sense as to whether or not he will come on the witness stand? What timeline could we expect to see Mark Zuckerberg actually present in the trial?

7:10 >> I don't know the exact when and some there's some parts of the trial that are dynamic and you know different ways. of course we want to work with him and and make sure that that we can get him at a time. We always try to work together with the witness. So, I don't know exactly when, but we he is someone that we plan to call in this trial. He is on our witness list. everyone expects him to testify at some point in this trial. and so, when exactly that will be, I don't know.

7:38 >> All right. It's good to have you back, Attorney General. It sounds like we're going to have a lot to follow up on with you, and we always appreciate your time. Rob Bont with us live from