Photo Credit: Donghun Shin
Donald Trump met with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino in the Oval Office prior to telling the DOJ to settle its antitrust suit against the company.
A new report from The Wall Street Journal has confirmed earlier reports from White House insiders regarding Donald Trump telling the Department of Justice to settle its antitrust suit with Live Nation after meeting with CEO Michael Rapino in the Oval Office back in February. That meeting followed extensive lobbying efforts and other shadowy maneuvers that preceded Live Nation’s sudden settlement with the DOJ in March, just a week into the company’s federal antitrust trial.
Previously, the WSJ reported that the settlement came about after a meeting at the White House on March 5, attended by Rapino, the company’s lawyers, and DOJ officials that included former Attorney General Pam Bondi. However, Rapino also met with Trump a few weeks prior.
Rapino’s meeting at the Oval Office on February 27 reportedly centered primarily on Trump’s efforts to overhaul the Kennedy Center and his desire to tap Live Nation to handle the venue’s operations. During the meeting, the president asked Rapino why the company hadn’t settled its antitrust case with the DOJ yet. Afterward, he reportedly instructed the DOJ to settle.
The settlement has faced criticism for how it was reached as well as its terms. The deal forced some concessions from Live Nation involving its amphitheater business and Ticketmaster’s exclusivity contracts, but many critics feel it did not go far enough to address Live Nation’s monopoly over the live entertainment industry.
“Our critics are comparing this settlement to the irrational hope of breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster,” said Dan Wall, Live Nation’s Executive Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, in a statement to the WSJ. “For the actual claims in this case, the DOJ and settling states got as much or more as they could have expected to win in court.”
“The only reason we went above the Antitrust Division to senior DOJ leadership is because no one there would speak to us,” Wall claimed. “When you’ve been unable to get a meeting for six months, you have every right to try something else.”
Live Nation’s lobbying efforts involved working closely with many figures close to Trump, including Kellyanne Conway and MAGA influencer and lawyer Mike Davis. Reportedly, Trump involved himself after hearing about the case from various sources in his orbit.
Notably, the WSJ revealed that Live Nation also hired the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to lead its settlement talks, which reportedly included two antitrust experts as well as an attorney named James McDonald. McDonald had little antitrust experience but was representing Trump in his criminal cases in New York. In July, Trump appointed McDonald to lead the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
Further, two political appointees at the DOJ reportedly had significant influence over an early set of proposed settlements. These included pushing lawyers at the antitrust division into removing language from a draft response that forced Live Nation to sell Ticketmaster and echoing talking points that Live Nation had unsuccessfully used in court.
Judge Arun Subramanian is still due to decide what kind of punishment Live Nation will ultimately receive in the states’ successful case against the company. The judge will also review and approve the DOJ’s settlement with Live Nation and decide whether it was reached in the public interest. The plaintiff states have made clear in a letter to the judge sent in July that they had “significant concerns” that the settlement was not in the public interest and have asked the DOJ to share further details regarding how it reached that settlement.