For months, Seth Stern had weighed whether to take the extraordinary step of filing a disciplinary complaint against the country’s top communications regulator. As director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Stern had watched with alarm as Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr repeatedly blurred the line between law and politics—reviving baseless investigations into major news networks, threatening companies over their diversity initiatives, and slow-walking approval of Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media while Donald Trump pursued an absurd “60 Minutes” lawsuit against the company.

The tipping point, however, came last week. Just 22 days after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the case, Carr approved the $8 billion merger. To Stern, the timing was clear evidence that Trump’s leverage over Paramount depended on Carr’s control of the FCC. “Trump’s shakedown of Paramount could not have worked without a credible threat that the administration would not approve Paramount’s merger with Skydance unless it paid up,” Stern told Status on Tuesday, adding, “It seems obvious to us that a licensed attorney should not be able to help his boss make a mockery of the legal system by laundering bribes through the courts without consequence.”