Live Nation has confirmed that the company had several meetings with the Department of Justice and the Office of the White House Counsel before a surprise antitrust trial settlement, while its president and CEO, Michael Rapino, held a conversation with President Donald Trump.

In a notice filed on Monday and reviewed by Variety, attorneys for Live Nation disclosed that the company had “in-person meetings, videoconferences, telephone calls, and written communications” with the DOJ as well as members of the Office of the White House Counsel between February 2025 and June 2026. The filing states that the communications were related to the negotiation of a potential settlement between the United States and Live Nation.

Among those who participated in the communications were Rapino; Joe Berchtold, Live Nation president and CFO; Dan Wall, Live Nation evp of corporate and regulatory affairs; and Richard Grenell, the Live Nation director whom Trump appointed as interim director of the Kennedy Center in February 2025 after he purged the historic venue’s former leadership and inserted himself as chairman of the board.

Additionally, and perhaps more notably, the filing reveals that Rapino had a conversation with Trump in February 2026. The notice states that the status of the antitrust lawsuit was brought up, but that “no substantive terms regarding any potential settlement were discussed.”

Representatives for Live Nation did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for further comment.

The government initially filed its antitrust suit against Live Nation in May 2024 during the Biden administration, along with approximately 40 states also suing the company. The suit claimed that Live Nation has illegal dominance in the concert business and attempted to force the company to separate from Ticketmaster.

In March, the government came to a surprise settlement with Live Nation. The case then continued on the state level, and in April, a jury decided that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster illegally held monopoly power in the ticketing market.

News of the conversations between Live Nation and the DOJ was first reported by Billboard.