We know for sure that Rupert Murdoch called AT&T twice in the last six months to talk about CNN. One source has told Reuters Murdoch offered to buy CNN in both conversations. Another source said he had “zero interest” in owning CNN.

As you may know, AT&T is trying to acquire Time Warner (CNN’s parent) but has run into a Trump administration roadblock. Reuters explains:

CNN has become the focal point in antitrust approval of AT&T's $85.4 billion deal to buy Time Warner Inc, hatched in October 2016.

U.S. Department of Justice staff have recommended that AT&T sell either its DirecTV unit or Time Warner'sTurner Broadcasting unit - which includes CNN - a government official told Reuters on Thursday, in order to gain antitrust approval.

[…]

The fate of CNN has broader political significance. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the network for its coverage of his campaign and his administration, while he has publicly praised Murdoch's Fox News.

CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that CNN confirmed the two calls between Murdoch and AT&T but he did not confirm Murdoch’s interest in purchasing CNN. If true, however, Murdoch was not alone:

AT&T says it is not going to sell CNN. It has rejected the notion of spinning off CNN to win government approval to acquire Time Warner, CNN's parent company. But multiple media moguls put out feelers about possibly buying CNN earlier this year.

"There have been a lot of people" who have "expressed interest in CNN," AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman is reporting that Murdoch may be bending Donald Trump’s ear to scuttle the takeover:

According to [Time Warner] executives I spoke with, the theory is that Murdoch privately encouraged Trump to scuttle the deal as revenge for Time Warner rejecting Murdoch’s $80 billion takeover offer in 2014. “A direct competitor, who was spurned from buying us, perhaps is trying to influence the judicial process? That’s corruption on top of corruption,” one Time Warner executive told me. “It’s bad enough what the president has been doing.” A Murdoch spokesperson called the claim “laughable and categorically untrue,” adding: “If Trump is doing this to punish CNN we have nothing whatsoever to do with it.”

According to NPR media correspondent and Murdoch biographer David Folkenflik, Murdoch would love to sabotage AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner and, perhaps, take over Time Warner himself:

Murdoch has long wanted Time Warner and CNN. So if these latest reports hold up, Murdoch is pushing Trump to create obstacles to which RM offers himself as the solution - by getting what he wants.

— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) November 10, 2017

Murdoch image by World Economic Forum (originally posted to Flickr as Rupert Murdoch) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons