Trump’s DOJ Antitrust Chief Gail Slater Wins Senate Confirmation

The US Senate confirmed Gail Slater to lead antitrust enforcement at the Justice Department, installing a key official who will oversee lawsuits alleging illegal monopolization by companies including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc. and Visa Inc.

Slater, 53, a former economic policy aide to Vice President JD Vance when he was a senator, was confirmed Tuesday with bipartisan support. Lawmakers voted 78 to 19, with mostly Democrats in opposition.

Slater didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A DOJ spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

During her confirmation hearing, Slater said she would vigorously enforce antitrust laws with a focus on industries including technology, health care and agriculture. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission both enforce the laws, investigating and challenging mergers and anticompetitive conduct in court. 

President Donald Trump’s first administration started to reinvigorate enforcement after years of a more business-friendly approach, while President Joe Biden made antitrust a key pillar of his economic policy. During the first Trump administration, lawsuits were filed challenging Google’s dominance in online search and Meta Platforms Inc.’s control over social media. Investigations were opened into Apple and Amazon.com Inc.

Slater will inherit a heavy litigation docket, including a high-profile restructuring of Google following the Biden administration’s victory last year in which a federal judge ruled that the company illegally monopolized the online search market. The DOJ is looking to force a sale of Google’s Chrome internet browser and bar the company from paying for preferred placement on mobile devices.

A second case targeting Google’s advertising technology business is awaiting a ruling from a federal judge in Virginia and could also lead to breaking up the pipeline of technology that supports online display advertising.

Trump nominated Slater for the role in December following her work for Vance, who had expressed his support for much of the agenda of former FTC Chair Lina Khan.

“Attorney General Bondi told me during her confirmation process that she shares my interest in these issues, and that she’d work with me and the Antitrust Division to address these issues,” said Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, in a floor speech prior to the vote. “There’s no better person to help her with this project than Gail Slater.”

Slater was also a tech policy adviser on the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term, and advised his transition team on antitrust and tech policy. Earlier she spent 10 years at the FTC, including as an adviser to former Democratic Commissioner Julie Brill in Barack Obama’s administration.

Slater will also need to tackle a handful of pending mergers, including Capital One Financial Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services and T-Mobile US Inc.’s acquisition of US Cellular Corp.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.