Watchdog Groups Demand Ethics Investigation into Brendan Carr and Olivia Trusty Over Paramount Gifts
Two government watchdog groups have filed complaints demanding an investigation into whether Federal Communications Commission members Brendan Carr and Olivia Trusty violated ethics requirements by accepting luxury gala tickets from Paramount. The Democracy Defenders Fund and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington argue that the commissioners accepted gifts from a company that is currently seeking government approval for a $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. ProPublica reported that Brendan Carr has accepted tickets from Paramount multiple times since 2017, while Olivia Trusty's latest financial disclosure showed she received tickets worth more than $12,000. Ethics experts suggest these gifts may have compromised the commissioners' impartiality during the FCC's review of Paramount's business decisions. While the FCC and Paramount maintain that the gifts were cleared by ethics officers and are a standard bipartisan practice, the watchdog groups are calling for an inspector general probe to ensure the integrity of the commission's regulatory process.