President-elect Donald Trump Thursday met with AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson, transition team spokesman Sean Spicer said.
Spicer confirmed the Thursday morning meeting on a later press call. Asked if they had talked about the AT&T-Time Warner merger, which Trump threatened to block, or whether Trump would also talk with Jeff Bewkes, the CEO of Time Warner, Spicer said the focus was on jobs and government impediments.
"I think you have seen by the meetings he has had with other CEOs that his primary focus is on how to create jobs and lift up wages, and the policies and regulations that are getting in the way of them creating higher paid jobs and economic growth," Spicer said, adding that was generally the subject of all the CEO meetings.
An AT&T spokesperson also said the deal was not on the agenda.
"Mr. Stephenson had a very good meeting with President-Elect Trump earlier today covering a wide-range of topics," the spokesperson said, but added: "AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner was not a topic of discussion. Rather, as the country’s leading investor of capital for each of the last five years, the conversation focused on how AT&T can work with the Trump administration to increase investment in the U.S., stimulate job creation in America, and make American companies more competitive globally."
