‘Breaking News…’: Tapper Tells Viewers CNN May Taken Over by David Ellison
CNN anchor Jake Tapper emotionally told viewers on Thursday’s episode of “The Lead” that Paramount Skydance is about to buy Warner Bros. Discovery and potentially CNN.
On Thursday, Netflix said it would not match Paramount’s $111 billion offer for WBD. Netflix made a tentative deal to buy most of WBD, including HBO and the Warner Bros. movie studio, but not CNN. Paramount then made a counteroffer, and Netflix chose not to offer more. The U.S. and Europe will need to approve the purchase.
But according to reports, Paramount CEO David Ellison told the Trump administration that he would “make sweeping changes to CNN” if his company bought it. President Donald Trump spoke out about the drama in the media industry and said that “CNN must be sold.” Trump has been complaining about the network for a long time, saying that it is unfair to him.
When the news broke, Tapper came back from a break and told viewers that Netflix had dropped its bid and that Paramount was now the highest bidder for Warner Bros. and HBO. He also mentioned that Paramount wanted to buy CNN:
“So we have some breaking news in our national lead that affects everybody I’m looking at right now in the studio,” Tapper began.
“Moments ago, Netflix said it is declining to raise its offer for the purchase of Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, following the Warner Bros. Discovery board’s determination that Paramount, which is not just going for Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, but also the whole enchilada, including us here at CNN, Paramount has submitted a superior offer according to Warner Bros. Discovery’s board. As I’ve noted, Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN,” Tapper said.
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Ellison’s Skydance bought Paramount and its subsidiary CBS last year. After the move, Ellison and Bari Weiss, who started the anti-woke Free Press, made a deal. Weiss got $150 million for the website and was named editor-in-chief of CBS News.
This also comes as CNN’s ratings have been plunging for well over a year while Fox News has been dominating viewership.
Fox News finished February by beating CBS in primetime viewership for the month, making it one of its best months since March 2025.
FNC had an average of 2.6 million viewers in primetime from Monday to Sunday, while CBS had 2.4 million viewers. This was the lowest February performance for the broadcast network since 2000.
Fox News had 3.1 million viewers on weeknights and 316,000 adults aged 25 to 54, which is the demographic that advertisers want. CBS only had 2 million viewers and 278,000 adults aged 25 to 54. This was the first time in 2026 that FNC beat CBS in both categories.
FNC had 1.7 million viewers during the whole day and was the most popular cable news channel among Hispanic and wealthy viewers during primetime. All of the month’s top 100 cable news shows were also on the network, and every show in its weekday lineup had its best month since at least September.
In the meantime, CBS had its worst primetime month since the turn of the century, with “CBS Evening News,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and “CBS Mornings” all getting the lowest ratings in February history. During primetime this century, ABC also had its lowest-rated February among the key demo.
“Special Report with Bret Baier,” FNC’s nightly news show, had an average of more than 3.1 million viewers and 289,000 viewers in the 25-54 age group. This was the most-watched month since March 2025.
The show beat “CBS Evening News” in 14 major markets, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. It also beat ABC’s “World News Tonight” in markets like New Orleans and Jacksonville.
“The Five” was the most popular show on TV at 5 p.m. ET, with more than 4 million viewers and 337,000 in the 25-54 demo.
It beat out ABC’s “911 Nashville” and NBC’s “Happy’s Place.” “Jesse Watters Primetime” had 3.4 million viewers and 329,000 in the demo at 8 p.m. ET, making it the most popular primetime show. It was just ahead of ABC’s “20/20.”
FNC also did well late at night. “Gutfeld!” stayed on top of both broadcast and cable, with over 3 million viewers and 347,000 in the 25-54 age group. It beat out shows like ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The morning shows on Fox News were still very popular with viewers. “FOX & Friends” ended February with 1.4 million viewers, making it the No. 1 cable news morning show for 60 months in a row in the 25-54 age group, beating CNN and MS NOW combined.
In 20 major markets, “FOX & Friends” beat “CBS Mornings” and in several key cities, it beat “Good Morning America” on ABC and “Today” on NBC.
Daytime shows kept getting more popular, with “America’s Newsroom,” “The Faulkner Focus,” “Outnumbered,” “America Reports,” and “The Story with Martha MacCallum” all getting about 2 million viewers or more. At 4 p.m. ET, “The Will Cain Show” continued to grow, drawing 2.3 million viewers.
Top DHS Special Agent And His Wife Found Dead
A Department of Homeland Security special agent and his wife were found dead in their New Jersey home in what appears to be a murder-suicide, prosecutors said.
Police in Sayreville responded to the couple’s home on Glynn Court around 8 p.m. July 3 and found Kelly Latauro, 46, dead inside the residence, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Her husband, 52-year-old Christopher Latauro, was discovered dead in the backyard.
Both appear to have been shot.
Authorities said Christopher is believed to be the shooter and the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide.
Police told residents to keep away from Glynn Court, from Deerfield Road to Scarlet Drive, briefly because of police activity.
The area was reopened about 40 minutes later, but police remained on scene.
According to NJ101.5, citing DHS records from 2019 and 2020, Christopher was a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security.
Authorities have not said what may have sparked the violence.
Kelly’s sister-in-law Robyn Perlman-Spencer confirmed her death in a Facebook post on July 7, remembering her in a heartbreaking tribute.
“As many of you may now know, my beautiful sister in law Kelly Iatauro was senselessly and suddenly taken from us on Friday. Kelly was a bright light- kind, thoughtful, hysterical, inappropriate, and just one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known. She left a lasting impression on anyone that was lucky enough to know her,” Robyn wrote in part.
Sayreville police confirmed officers responded to the Glynn Court residence on July 3 and found both people dead of gunshot wounds.
The incident is being treated as a murder-suicide, and Christopher is suspected to be the shooter, the spokesperson said.
The Department of Homeland Security and Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment on the case.
What began as a heavy police response to a deadly scene left two people dead and the quiet Middlesex County neighborhood stunned.
Investigators are still trying to piece together what happened inside the home leading up to the gunfire.
Separately, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made headlines last week with an election-related announcement.
Mullin on Friday said officials who don’t cooperate with the administration’s election security efforts may be slapped with fines — and potentially prison time.
“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections — and they chose not to — then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin said during a press conference at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Mullin also promised DHS would work to “speed up our security enhancements” for states.
He vowed to hold up federal election security grants until state officials took steps the administration demanded, including running their voter registration lists through a system that checks for non-citizen voters on the rolls.
Mullin made his comments after President Donald Trump’s primetime address on election security Thursday night, when he repeated already known concerns about the security of voting systems, alleged Chinese efforts to get into voter rolls, and aired old gripes about the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
In his remarks on Friday, the DHS secretary focused on DHS’s work with states to secure election systems and scrub voter registration rolls for fraud and concerns about noncitizen voting.
The Justice Department also sent letters this month threatening prosecution to election officials across the country if they don’t remove noncitizens from their voter rolls.
On Friday, Mullin seemed to suggest that the agency was able to estimate the numbers using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and said 23 states are already working with DHS to analyze voter rolls.
And he criticized the legal challenges that are hindering the administration’s efforts: Last month, a judge blocked the Trump administration from creating a database of information about Americans, including Social Security numbers and citizenship status.
