If America really wants to drain the swamp, take a good look at AT&T

If you know anything about AT&T’s history, its relationship with Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen shouldn’t be too surprising. The company has an army of lawyers at its disposal, is hair-trigger litigious, and is no stranger to backroom dealing in the Capitol. During 2017, the company paid $16,780,000 to 31 lobby firms, according to government filings. 

The company already has 96 DC lobbyists -- including three former members of Congress -- working to push through the company’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner, a deal which would further consolidate the media market and reduce competition. It would put one of the largest video distribution networks in America, and a mountain of video content, under the control of one company. In 2017, its lobbyists helped lead the fight to scrap net neutrality, the regulations that prevented AT&T and other telecom giants from selling expensive “internet fast lanes” on its network, and from favoring its own content over others on the web.

With these issues at stake, AT&T apparently didn’t have any qualms about jumping in bed with some unsavory bedfellows.