AT&T fired workers after raking in billions from Trump’s tax scam

AT&T is at it yet again: The company cozied up to Donald Trump and Republicans – and this time, its workers paid the price.

Recent news reports reveal that after the company lobbied Republican lawmakers to push through Trump’s massive Tax Scam, AT&T laid off more than 23,000 employees, despite promises to create more jobs.

In 2017, AT&T announced it would invest $1 billion the following year in telecom infrastructure resulting in the creation of “7,000 good jobs for the middle class” if Congress slashed tax rates for corporate America.

Congress rammed through Trump’s Tax Scam, but AT&T didn’t deliver on its promise. Instead, it cut capital spending, continued to lay off workers and pocketed $3 billion in a massive tax windfall. AT&T executive pay soared after the Tax Scam went into effect: CEO Randall Stephenson reportedly made $29 million in total compensation last year. Not a bad payout for going back on your word.

This isn’t the first time AT&T’s cozy relationship with Republicans and Trump administration helped its bottom line. In 2017, the company donated $2 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration and paid Michael Cohen, Trump’s long-time fixer and personal lawyer who is now serving time in federal prison, $600,000 to advise the telecom giant on “regulatory policy development,” although he has no experience in policy or the telecom sector.

The payments seemed to have paid off: the FCC repealed net neutrality regulations, and the telecom giant was awarded a secret $3.3 billion contract with the National Security Agency, which is in addition to AT&T’s partnership with the NSA to spy on Americans.

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