Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison attended President Donald Trump’s state dinner for China’s Xi Jinping Thursday, while CNN and MS NOW were barred from covering Xi’s arrival despite a Wednesday court order granting access to them and Politico.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico notified the court after they were kept from Xi’s White House arrival Thursday morning. The White House said in a court filing that access was restored at 9:55 a.m.; the outlets said they were not admitted until around noon, after Xi’s press conference. Trump reinstated the ban later that evening.
Ellison attended as he awaited a judge’s approval of a settlement in Paramount’s $110 billion merger with Warner Bros., CNN’s parent company.
