Documents show Ajit Pai met with AT&T execs right after the company started paying Michael Cohen. Now Congress needs to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality repeal and investigate.
TL;DR: Ajit Pai has denied hearing from Michael Cohen, but FOIAed documents show he met with AT&T execs a month after Cohen began receiving payments from the company. Call your lawmakers before they vote on the net neutrality CRA tomorrow and demand they overturn the FCC’s corrupt net neutrality repeal.
This past week, AT&T apologized for for its “serious misjudgment” in hiring U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen to provide “insights” into how the new administration would handle issues like net neutrality and AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable.
Although Pai denied hearing from Cohen, new scheduling documents obtained through FOIA by corruption watchdog American Oversight show the Chairman met with with top AT&T executives at a private dinner in Barcelona a month after the company began paying Cohen. One of the top AT&T representatives present at this meeting was noted net neutrality enemy Bob Quinn, who hired Cohen and has since stepped down over the controversy.
These revelations come on the tail of one of the most problem-ridden and undemocratic consultations in the FCC’s history. Throughout the comment period, the agency refused to address problems with fake comments, alleged DDoS attacks that prevented Internet users from commenting, and failed to release of thousands of important consumer complaints over net neutrality violations until the last minute.
At this point, members of Congress must vote to support the CRA and reverse the agency’s disastrous net neutrality repeal when the resolution hits the Senate floor in just over 24 hours. Then they need to hold a public hearing to investigate what went on between AT&T, Cohen, and the FCC, and give the public the answers they deserve.
If you haven’t already, please call your lawmakers now through BattleForTheNet.com and do your part to save net neutrality.
