AT&T CEO Reportedly Met Trump This Week Amid $23B EchoStar Deal Antitrust Review

White House chief of Staff Susie Wiles referenced Stankey’s meeting with Trump publicly at a Business Roundtable event that Stankey attended, a Semafor report said.

• The White House meeting was presented as an opportunity to highlight AT&T’s significant $250 billion investment in US infrastructure and jobs, per the report.
• Stankey also mentioned AT&T’s upcoming acquisition of EchoStar’s spectrum as part of the company’s wider US investment strategy to Trump.
• According to Axios, AT&T denied a quid-pro-quo between Stankey’s meeting and the Justice Department’s review of the EchoStar deal.

AT&T’s CEO John Stankey reportedly met President Donald Trump earlier this week amid the Trump administration’s review of AT&T’s $23 billion deal to buy EchoStar.

The White House meeting was presented as an opportunity to highlight AT&T’s significant $250 billion investment in US infrastructure and jobs. Stankey also mentioned AT&T’s upcoming acquisition of EchoStar’s spectrum as part of the company’s wider US investment strategy, a report from Semafor said, citing people familiar with the matter. 

White House chief of Staff Susie Wiles referenced Stankey’s meeting with Trump publicly at a Business Roundtable event that Stankey attended, the report said. 

Details

According to Semafor, AT&T denied a quid-pro-quo between Stankey’s meeting and the Justice Department’s review of the EchoStar deal.

“Our $250 billion commitment is driven by the need to provide connectivity for innovation and growth in the AI era,” an AT&T spokesperson said of the company’s announcement this week per the report. It wasn’t based on “some absurd claim fabricated by an anonymous source likely threatened by the increased competition that would benefit consumers if the EchoStar spectrum acquisition is approved.”

Deal With EchoStar

In August last year, AT&T said it agreed to purchase certain wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar (SATS) for a total of approximately $23 billion. The two firms also agreed to enhance their long-term wholesale network services agreement, enabling EchoStar to operate as a hybrid mobile network operator (MNO). 

AT&T is set to acquire approximately 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and approximately 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum for approximately $23 billion in an all-cash transaction. 

AT&T at the time said that the transaction is expected to close in mid-2026, subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Retail Reaction

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Shares in the company have risen 11.8% so far in 2026.