Rob Bonta – CA’s AG and the Paramount Corruption Claims

Is California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s lawsuit, which seeks to block the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal, influenced by political donations tied to Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings? That’s the claim being made by Bonta’s Republican challenger, Michael Gates.

Patty Quillin, the wife of Mr. Hastings, donated a whopping $1 million to Smart Justice California Action Fund, which previously supported Bonta and other left-wing prosecutors, according to Fox News Digital. On May 4, 2022, Smart Justice gave $150,000 to Communities for Justice Supporting Rob Bonta for Attorney General 2022.

"Rob Bonta has turned his taxpayer-funded office into a favor factory for his political bosses and donors. He's pursuing politically-motivated litigation against a competitor for a company that's bankrolled his PAC," Gates alleged.

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"This reeks of corruption, which has been an all-too-common pattern for him, and further shows why he's wholly unfit to serve as our state's top law enforcement officer,” the Republican challenger continued. “This all warrants an investigation into his activities to uncover the full truth about Bonta's conduct.”

Bonta and Netflix: Corrupt Bedfellows?

Earlier this year, Paramount Skydance accused Netflix of leading a “scorched-earth campaign” to take down the Warner Bros. deal. In a letter obtained by NBC News, Paramount Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim told the Justice Department that Netflix’s “panic-level response” to the merger shows “just how seriously Netflix takes Paramount as a scaled competitor.”

Just over one month later, Bonta announced that he was leading a “coalition of 12 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging” Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Because the merger would combine two major film distributors and basic cable channel owners, Bonta alleged the deal would inflict “substantial harm on movie theaters, basic cable distributors and, ultimately, audiences nationwide.”

"This smells like Sacramento at its worst," California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin told Fox News Digital. "Rob Bonta takes Netflix money, then turns around and uses his office to kneecap a Netflix rival. With federal investigations, arrests and guilty pleas already piling up in California’s one-party Democrat rule, is this about consumer protection or another political favor?"

Bonta Responds

Bonta’s press office told Fox News Digital that the allegations were false, arguing the “lawsuit against Paramount resulted from clear cut [sic] antitrust analysis, based on the facts and the law.”

"In February 2026, our office announced an investigation into the purchase of Warner Bros. by either Netflix or Paramount,” his office continued. "Following our investigation, we concluded that a lawsuit was necessary to protect competition and consumer choice. Our office's decision to file a lawsuit is always based on the facts, the law, and the protection of Californians."

It is unclear whether Bonta communicated with Hastings, Quillin, or Netflix regarding the lawsuit, which Bonta filed along with the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington.

Before Bonta announced the lawsuit, the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division conducted its own investigation into potential issues related to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. It found that “the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers.” So, did Bonta disagree – or did he have other reasons for entering the fray?