WH Call on Sinclair-Tribune ‘Unusual,’ Not Improper, FCC Head Says

White House Counsel Don McGahn’s July 17 call to Federal Communication Commission Chairman Ajit Pai over the decision to send the $3.9 billion merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Tribune Media Co. to an administrative law judge wasn’t improper, Pai said Aug. 21.

“It was pretty unusual, and it was the first time we got a status inquiry of that kind,” Pai said during a question-and-answer session at a Technology Policy Institute conference in Aspen, Colo.

Pai, when asked if McGahn’s call was improper, said, “Oh, not at all. It was just a big old status inquiry.”

FCC is ...