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California Attorney General Rob Bonta faced calls Friday from Republican challenger Michael Gates and the California GOP for an investigation into whether political funding connected to Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings’ family influenced the 12-state lawsuit Bonta filed in federal court in California to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.Gates, the Republican nominee for California attorney general, told Fox News Digital the financial relationship warranted an investigation.”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 said. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is facing calls for an investigation over a Netflix-linked donation trail as he seeks to block Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. DAVID ELLISON BREAKS SILENCE ON PARAMOUNT-WBD MERGER FIGHT, CNN INSIDERS DON’T BUY ‘LIP SERVICE’ ABOUT NETWORK”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. This all warrants an investigation into his activities to uncover the full truth about Bonta’s conduct,” he said.Campaign-finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital show Hastings’ wife, Patty Quillin, contributed $1 million to Smart Justice California Action Fund on March 16, 2022. Fox News Digital reported in 2022 that the independent committee was working to boost Bonta and other progressive prosecutors.A subsequent California filing shows Smart Justice contributed $150,000 on May 4, 2022, to a committee called Communities for Justice Supporting Rob Bonta for Attorney General 2022. California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks as California Governor Gavin Newsom looks on during a news conference at Gemperle Orchard on April 16, 2025 in Ceres, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)DEM ‘EPSTEIN CLASS’ ATTACK BACKFIRES AS TOP CANDIDATES FUNDED BY EPSTEIN-TIED BILLIONAIRECalifornia Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin told Fox News Digital the circumstances raised questions about Bonta’s motives.”This smells like Sacramento at its worst,” Rankin said. “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?”Los Angeles attorney Elizabeth Barcohana, a California GOP delegate and chair of the party’s Subcommittee for Jewish Engagement, pointed Fox News Digital to an X post alleging Bonta’s challenge was intended to benefit Netflix.”CA AG @AGRobBonta’s lawsuit to block the Paramount-WB merger is a corrupt political favor to Netflix to protect its streaming monopoly,” Barcohana said. California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin told Fox News Digital that, “Rob Bonta takes Netflix money, then turns around and uses his office to kneecap a Netflix rival.” (Daniel Cole/Reuters)TRUMP’S ANTITRUST POINT MAN COULD RESHAPE BIG TECH CASES AGAINST GOOGLE AND APPLE IF CONFIRMEDBonta’s press office rejected the allegations in a statement to Fox News Digital, pointing to the office’s February announcement that it was examining potential purchases of Warner Bros. by either Netflix or Paramount.”The lawsuit against Paramount resulted from clear cut antitrust analysis, based on the facts and the law,” Bonta’s press office said. “In February 2026, our office announced an investigation into the purchase of Warner Bros. by either Netflix or Paramount.””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.” Bonta’s press office rejected the claims, maintaining that its legal challenge followed a review of the proposed merger’s potential effects on competition and consumer choice. (Loren Elliott/Bloomberg)NETFLIX FILM CHIEF SAYS THEY WON’T WORK WITH DIRECTORS WHO WANT TO RELEASE MOVIES IN THEATERSThe response did not directly address Fox News Digital’s questions about possible communications with Netflix, Hastings or Quillin, whether Bonta considered recusal or whether the office disputed the campaign-finance figures.Bonta’s complaint alleged the merger would give the combined company approximately 27% of wide-release theatrical film distribution and basic-cable channel licensing.The Justice Department reached the opposite conclusion after an eight-month investigation involving more than two million documents. Federal antitrust officials determined the transaction was unlikely to harm competition and could create a stronger streaming alternative to Netflix, Amazon and Disney.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTUREBritain’s competition regulator cleared the acquisition Thursday, leaving Bonta’s state-led litigation as the deal’s principal remaining regulatory obstacle. Paramount agreed not to close until five days after a ruling on the merits of June 2027, with a federal trial scheduled for March.CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APPFox News Digital reached out to Netflix, Hastings and Assemblymember Mia Bonta for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. CJ Womack is an associate editor at Fox News.CJ joined Fox News Digital’s team in 2026, which highlights the vital role journalism plays in shaping politics and culture. He has years of experience analyzing and reporting on the news media.CJ graduated from Long Beach State University in 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Journalism. You can send news tips to cj.womack@fox.com and follow CJ on Twitter.
