In a crusade to save its planned $85 billion takeover of Time Warner, AT&T has pressed a legal fight rife with drama befitting a deal that involves the provider of CNN news coverage and HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

Pointing to President Donald Trump’s contempt for CNN coverage and public opposition to the deal itself, AT&T and Time Warner questioned early on whether political retribution was behind the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision in November to block the acquisition.