The Trump administration doesn't seem to have major problems when a hardline conservative media company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, seeks a merger that allows it to dominate the airwaves in St. Louis and other cities. The skewed news coverage that Sinclair stations broadcast to their local markets leans heavily toward President Donald Trump's way of thinking.

But during last year's presidential campaign, Trump made clear where he stands on big media mergers when the coverage isn't to his liking, such as the merger of Comcast and NBCUniversal. Trump declared he might try to break it up because the company was "trying to poison the mind of the American voter."

Now that communications giant AT&T is seeking an $85.4 billion merger with Time Warner, Trump's Justice Department is worried about the risks to competition. The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit Monday to block the proposed merger, arguing that it "would result in fewer innovative offerings and higher bills for American families."

The true motive, we suspect, is about making life difficult for CNN, the cable news network that Trump has targeted for attack more than any other news outlet. Not even Randall Stephenson, the normally reserved chief executive of AT&T, could hide his suspicions that CNN was at the root of the administration's challenge.

"There's been a lot of reporting and speculation whether this is all about CNN, and frankly I don't know. But nobody should be surprised that the question keeps coming up because we've been witnessing such an abrupt change in the application of antitrust law here," Stephenson told reporters Monday. The Trump administration's challenge "defies logic, and it is unprecedented," he added.

Senior administration officials this month warned that the merger would not be approved unless Time Warner agreed to spin off the broadcasting subsidiary that owns CNN. Another option was for AT&T to spin off its DirecTV subsidiary.

Stephenson made his suspicions clear that the court challenge is an attempt to stifle negative news media coverage: "The bottom line is that we cannot and we will not be party to any agreement that would even give the perception of compromising the First Amendment protections of the press. So any agreement that results in us forfeiting control of CNN, whether directly or indirectly, is a nonstarter."

There's good reason to fear the monopoly power that the merged company could hold. Consumers would have fewer cable-provider options, and prices are likely to rise. But that danger would exist regardless of whether CNN was spun off.

Normally in such court challenges, it's the merger applicants who must defend themselves. This time, though, the Justice Department will have to prove that Trump's animosity toward CNN isn't what's prompting the lawsuit. He's made the department's job far more difficult than it should be.

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