Donald Trump apparently brokered YouTube lawsuit settlement in front of Nick Saban?

Yet again, another major corporation has settled a dubious lawsuit brought forth by President Donald Trump. This time, it was Google bending the knee.

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google-owned YouTube has agreed to settle a 2021 lawsuit filed by Trump against the video platform. The lawsuit challenged YouTube’s decision to suspend the president’s channel in the aftermath of the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

YouTube is following in the footsteps of Paramount, Disney, Meta, and X—all of whom have entered into eight-figure settlements with Trump over similarly flimsy lawsuits. Google will pay $24.5 million to settle the suit, most of which will be earmarked for the construction of a Mar-a-Lago-style ballroom Trump is building at the White House, according to the WSJ.

However, how this case reached a settlement is quite revealing about how the sitting president conducts business.

The WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus and Annie Linskey describe the negotiations, which featured a cameo from ESPN College GameDay host Nick Saban playing golf with Trump:

When top Google executives, including CEO Sundar Pichai and co-founder Sergey Brin, arrived at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for a mediation session in early May, the president chatted amiably with the executives for a few minutes before throwing a curveball. His question: Would they mind moving the conversation over to his nearby golf club?

Trump was due to play a round with former football coach Nick Saban. After motorcading to the golf club with the president, the Google team and their lawyers rode in golf carts with Trump for several holes as he played with Saban. They later lunched together on the terrace, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Back at Mar-a-Lago, Trump left the group, and talks began—for the first time that day—about how to settle the case.

Trump had summoned two of the most powerful executives in tech to Mar-a-Lago, only to drag them to the golf course so he could get some holes in with Saban before returning to Mar-a-Lago, where they finally discussed a settlement. The negotiations ultimately resulted in Google sponsoring the construction of a fancy ballroom in the White House.

Looking past the legal expert who told the WSJ that current Supreme Court doctrine is very clear that private companies need not grant anyone a right of access—making Trump’s legal argument against YouTube wobbly at best—the reporting highlights just how transactional these negotiations are with Trump.

The president simply wants the Google executives to kiss the ring: come to my estate, watch me golf with a famous football coach, and then we’ll talk numbers. It’s a familiar playbook that has been deployed against numerous tech and media companies since Trump assumed office.

This episode offers yet more evidence that media companies are doing everything in their power to stay on Trump’s good side at a time when the industry is exposed to the regulatory whims of his administration.
https://awfulannouncing.com/politics/donald-trump-brokered-youtube-settlement-nick-saban.html

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