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US President Donald Trump says the news network CNN should be sold as part of a deal for its parent company Warner Bros Discovery or separately.

“CNN should be sold,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros is for assets including HBO, but the deal excludes the company’s CNN and other cable networks. Those cable assets, including CNN, TNT, and TBS, are expected to be spun off into a separate entity ahead of the merger.

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“I think any deal should – it should be guaranteed and certain that CNN is part of it or sold separately,” Trump said during a meeting with business leaders at the White House.

“I don’t think the people that are running that company right now and running CNN, which is a very dishonest group of people, I don’t think that should be allowed to continue. I think CNN should be sold along with everything else,” he added.

Trump said his primary concern was that the current management of the network could be rewarded by being allowed to continue operating “with money” from a deal.

Trump has been a vocal critic of CNN, frequently branding the network as “fake news” and accusing it of biased coverage against him.

Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison – whose father, Larry Ellison, is a close supporter of Trump – has provided a competing offer that would include the cable networks.

US President Donald Trump speaks at Mount Airy Casino Resort earlier this week. Credit: AP

Hollywood and Washington have been closely monitoring the president’s comments on the potential Netflix deal, in which the streamer would take over the Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max streaming service — but linear cable channels including CNN would be spun off.

“I will be probably involved, maybe involved in the decision. It depends,” Trump said.“You have some good companies bidding on it.”

Reuters, Bloomberg