The appointment of Gail Slater last year to lead antitrust enforcement at the US Department of Justice was seen as an expression of philosophical continuity with past administrations. Her ouster Thursday — after substantial disputes within DOJ leadership about the ethics of enforcement — signaled a sharp break with the past and creates a widespread perception that the agency's tolerance for corporate market power will increase.
The appointment of Gail Slater last year to lead antitrust enforcement at the US Department of Justice was seen as an expression of philosophical continuity with past administrations. Her ouster Thursday — after substantial disputes within DOJ leadership about the ethics of enforcement — signaled a sharp break with the past and creates a widespread perception that the agency's tolerance for corporate market power will increase.In one signal of that shift, the stock of Live Nation Entertainment — a Slater target for its alleged domination of the live concert industry — had spiked more than 4 percent in the first 11 minutes after the news hit, settling back to finish up 2.5 percent in regular trading on a day when US stocks were broadly lower.
Mike Davis, a former DOJ official who has made a name for himself as a Slater detractor, celebrated the news on X: "Good riddance." Chad Mizelle, the former chief of staff to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, marked Slater's departure by observing on X that "No one is entitled to work at DOJ. You must be willing to put aside personal agendas and vendettas to advance the President’s priorities and serve the American people."
The heart of the debate is the proper understanding of the priorities of US President Donald Trump. At the outset, Davis and Slater represented themselves as being on the same side, casting themselves as proponents of Trump's antitrust agenda.
Slater came to the DOJ with impeccable Republican and professional credentials, including a stint as an adviser to Vice President JD Vance and 10 years as an attorney at the US Federal Trade Commission.
A year ago Thursday, Slater completed her Senate confirmation hearing.
"Very proud of my good friend Gail Slater," said Davis, "who just crushed her Senate confirmation hearing to serve as President Trump’s next Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust. She will help make America competitive again."
That comity was short-lived. According to the account of Roger Alford, her former principal deputy assistant attorney general, Davis was among those who went over Slater's head inside the DOJ to push the agency to drop its lawsuit against the $14 billion merger of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks. The DOJ had brought suit against the deal alleging that it would excessively concentrate the market for wireless local area networks, or WLAN.
Alford and William Rinner opposed the settlement that allowed the companies to merge and were fired from the DOJ by Mizelle last July. In a speech titled "The Rule of Law versus The Rule of Lobbyists," delivered in Colorado shortly after his dismissal, Alford presented the dispute in stark moral terms (see here).
"Those who forsake the rule of law are violating fundamental moral principles," he said. Quoting the Bible, he added, “'A just king gives a country stability, but one who demands bribes destroys it.' (Proverbs 29:4). 'You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality ... Justice, and only justice, you shall follow.' (Deuteronomy 16:19-20). 'A wicked man receives a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.' (Proverbs 17:23). 'Do not show partiality in judging; hear both the small and great alike.' (Deuteronomy 1:17).'"
"I know many in and out of government who sincerely respect these moral principles. Perhaps now is the time to implement them," he said. "The influence peddlers and allies in government will hide behind their friends in power, excuse their behavior, claim we are naïve, and hope this all goes away. But many of their friends in power have principles and want to avoid further scandal."
Davis, Alford said, was among those who "undermine Trump's antitrust agenda."
Not everyone, though, is invested in Trump's antitrust agenda. Slater's firing was met with dismay among officials and observers affiliated with Democrats.
US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, called Slater "one of Trump's few bipartisan-supported nominees" and said her ouster "looks like corruption."
“Every antitrust case in front of the Trump Justice Department now reeks of double-dealing ... Congress has a responsibility to unearth exactly what happened and hold the Trump administration accountable,” Warren said in a statement (see here).
US Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, lauded Slater as committed to fair enforcement of antitrust law. "That's the same reason she was forced out," he said (see here).
"This is bad news," said Tim Wu, a competition advisor to former President Joe Biden, "and another blow to what's left of the parts of the Republican party that cared about the middle class, antimonopoly and impartial law enforcement."
Longtime antitrust lawyer Vic Domen, a Republican who served in the Tennessee Attorney General's Office for nearly 18 years and chaired a multistate antitrust task force, told MLex that Slater’s departure creates an enforcement vacuum and generates uncertainty, at least in the short term, for companies with deals pending before the DOJ.
“For practitioners it creates a void that is very unsettling for clients," he said. "You will see even more decisions by the DOJ front office and the White House.”
The corporate combination of Live Nation and Ticketmaster has been seen as a test of DOJ priorities. The agency and a number of state attorneys general have filed suit to break up the companies, alleging that they use exclusionary contracts and strategic acquisitions to quell competitive threats. A five-week trial in the lawsuit is set to commence March 2 in a Manhattan federal court.
Live Nation, however, has brought in Davis and Trump ally Kellyanne Conway, Trump's 2016 presidential campaign manager and senior counselor to the president during his first term, to lobby in an effort to settle the suit. Thursday's stock market response to Slater's departure reflected a positive view of that effort.
Alford, in his Colorado speech, described two opposing factions on antitrust within the Justice Department: "true MAGA Republicans and MAGA-In-Name-Only lobbyists." Mizelle and Davis were among the representatives of the latter faction. In addition to himself, Alford singled out Slater, Mark Hamer, Dina Kallay, Bill Rinner and Chetan Sanghvi as the Trump-aligned proponents of vigorous antitrust enforcement.
Alford omitted Omeed Assefi, the deputy assistant attorney general for criminal antitrust enforcement, from that group. Assefi, who was acting assistant attorney general before Slater’s appointment, reportedly will again take on that role with Slater’s departure. Mizelle took to X on Thursday with his endorsement: “Omeed is an America first patriot who won’t be afraid to stand up to big tech. He will do a great job.”
Davis likewise celebrated Assefi's appointment in an X post. "Cheers to my friend Omeed Assefi, a longtime Trump loyalist and MAGA populist, on his elevation (again) as Trump’s Antitrust Division head," Davis wrote. "Omeed will deliver results for American competition and consumers. (With a lot more stability and less drama.)"
Alford laid out his view of the two antitrust enforcement factions after he and Rinner were fired last year. Slater and Hamer left the agency this week.
But Davis, to all appearances, is still well-connected within the agency. His faction is prospering.
— With assistance from Ilana Kowarski
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