New York, Nov 9 (EFE) .- The CEO of telecommunications giant AT & T, Randall Stephenson, said today that they are prepared to defend their agreement in the courts. merger with the Time Warner group.

"If we have to go to court, our preference is to do it as soon as possible instead of leaving it for later. already, "Stephenson said during a conference in New York.

One day after the pressures from the Justice Department about the approval of the merger agreement were made public with Time Warner, the CEO of AT & T said today that selling CNN "does not make any sense" for the plans of his company.

Different media published this Wednesday that the The Department of Justice has put as a condition to approve the merger that the cable channel CNN, one of the jewels of the Time Warner group, or the satellite channel DirecTV, owned by AT & T.

"I had never been told that the price we had to pay to approve the agreement was to sell CNN, period, and in the same way, I have never offered to sell CNN. intention to sell CNN, "Stephenson insisted today.

During the conference, organized by The New York Times, said he has" no reason to believe "that the Department of Justice taking into account the animosity of the US president, Donald Trump, towards the Atlanta channel.

Trumo has been fighting a bitter battle with CNN for months, to which He usually disqualifies with the name of "false news", and during the last electoral campaign he even said he would oppose the merger.

The telecommunications giant announced last year an agreement to buy about 85,400 million dollars Time Warner, which includes CNN and TNT and entertainment channels such as HBO, in addition to Warner studios Bros.

AT & T shares rose 1.58% on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where they have depreciated 20% since the start of the year, while Time Warners were down accumulate already a decrease of 9.2% since last January.