Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos will head to the White House on Thursday for meetings on his company’s efforts to acquire part of Warner Bros. Discovery as Paramount ratchets up its rival bid, Politico reported Wednesday.

The reported visit is set to occur five days after President Donald Trump demanded that Netflix immediately fire former Obama administration official Susan Rice from its board, or else “pay the consequences.”

It was not immediately clear if Sarandos would be meeting with Trump during the visit, a person familiar with the discussions told Politico.

Netflix declined CNBC’s request for comment on the report. The White House, asked by CNBC to confirm the visit, said, “We do not discuss private meetings that may or may not be happening.”

The acquisition fight over WBD, like numerous other business deals in over the past year, has been entangled with presidential politics.

Trump had weeks earlier said he would stay out of the multibillion-dollar bidding war between Netflix, which wants to buy WBD’s studio and streaming brands, and Paramount, which seeks to acquire WBD’s whole business.

But Trump appeared to change course when, in a Truth Social post on Saturday afternoon, he demanded that Netflix fire Rice from its board, calling her “racist” and a “political hack.”

Trump on Truth Social linked to an X post from Laura Loomer, a far-right media figure in Trump’s orbit, slamming Rice and urging the president to “kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now.”

Loomer’s post highlighted a recent podcast appearance in which Rice, who has served in the Obama, Clinton and Biden administrations, predicted that corporations and other institutions that appeased Trump will be held “accountable” when his political opposition regains power.

The WBD deal proposals have raised antitrust concerns. The Department of Justice is investigating whether Netflix’s proposed deal could hurt competition.

Other dynamics have fueled speculation that politics are part of the acquisition fight.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest men and a Republican megadonor.

David Ellison was a guest of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump loyalist, at the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Paramount most recently raised its bid for Warner Bros. to an all-cash $31 per share, which could “reasonably be expected” to top Netflix’s offer, WBD said Tuesday.

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.

President Donald Trump late Saturday called on Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice or “pay the consequences,” after she said Democrats would push for corporate accountability if they regain power in the November midterm elections.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump described Rice, who served as President Joe Biden’s domestic policy chief and held top foreign policy posts under President Barack Obama, as “purely a political hack” with “no talent or skills.”

“HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK,” Trump wrote.

Rice argued during a podcast last week that “it is not going to end well” for corporations, news organizations, and law firms that “bent the knee” to Trump, and that their deference is unpopular.

“There is likely to be a swing in the other direction, and they are going to be caught with more than their pants down,” Rice told Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. “They’re going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box.”

She added, “If these corporations think that Democrats, when they come back in power, are going to play by the old rules, and say, ‘Never mind, we will forgive you for all the people you fired and all the policies and principles you violated, all the laws you skirted,’ I think they got another thing coming.”

Rice served on Netflix’s board from 2018 to 2021, and rejoined in 2023 after leaving the Biden administration.

Netflix representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump included a screenshot of an earlier post from far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who said Rice’s remarks were “anti-American” and urged the president to “kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now.” Loomer also tagged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr in her post.

The comments come after Trump told NBC News earlier this month that the Department of Justice will “handle” the deal and that he’ll stay out of their review, after previously saying he’d be involved in the process. The DOJ is currently reviewing Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Netflix has proposed acquiring WBD in a $72 billion deal that would not include the company’s cable networks, including CNN.

Paramount Skydance, in response, launched a hostile takeover bid for all of WBD, promising its shareholders $30 per share in an all-cash deal.

The DOJ is investigating whether Netflix’s proposed deal could hurt competition, and it’s also asked how the company’s previous acquisitions have affected competition for creative talent, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

As part of its review, the agency is also examining whether the streaming giant uses anticompetitive tactics in negotiations with independent content creators for acquiring programming, Bloomberg reported, citing documents.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said last month that he’s confident the company will be able to secure regulatory approval “because this deal is pro-consumer … pro-innovation, pro-worker.”