David Cohen, Comcast’s top lobbyist, says Trump won’t stop many mergers

President Donald Trump has previously threatened to break up Comcast while repeatedly taken aim at one of its rivals, AT&T, as the wireless giant inches closer to purchasing Time Warner. But Comcast’s leading voice in Washington, DC — David Cohen — said that the regulatory climate for big mergers remains as friendly as ever in the nation’s capital, no matter what President Trump himself has said.

“Overall, this president and this administration is likely less hostile to horizontal growth or even vertical growth in the telecom space and elsewhere,” said Cohen. By horizontal, Cohen meant mergers that open companies to new lines of business; with respect to vertical, he was referring to deals that combine two companies that directly compete against each other. “I don’t think that’s a license for ‘anything goes,’” Cohen continued. But, he added there’s “pretty clearly going to be less hostility and a greater willingness to allow the market to work.”