Gail Slater announced her plans to resign earlier this month after less than a year leading the DOJ's antitrust division, marking an abrupt end to a tenure that was repeatedly plagued by tensions with top Trump officials.
Slater's nomination spurred alarm among tech companies and other corporate giants, who faced aggressive antitrust enforcement during the first Trump administration.
Now, with Slater on her way out, attention is turning to several high-profile deals awaiting Trump administration approval — and the president's own influence over antitrust policy.
"It feels like the support for populist antitrust enforcement is kind of gone from the Trump administration. Slater was kind of seen as the leader of that philosophy and clearly that's been pushed aside," said Owen Tedford, a senior research analyst at Beacon Policy Advisers.
Previously a top advisor to Vice President Vance, Slater was confirmed as assistant attorney general for the antitrust division last spring.
Her nomination was one of several moves by the Trump administration that initially signaled a continuation of aggressive antitrust enforcement, particularly against major tech firms.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly attacked major tech platforms, and warned companies like Google and Meta have used their power to influence voters against conservatives, as they have with mainstream media companies.
In nominating Slater, Trump argued that "Big Tech has run wild for years," noting that he was "proud to fight these abuses in my First Term, and our Department of Justice's antitrust team will continue that work under Gail's leadership."
Her unexpected exit came against a backdrop of increased consolidation of major American businesses and immediate tensions between Slater and top DOJ officials.
A $14 billion merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks proved to be an early point of contention when two top antitrust officials were fired in July amid an internal dispute over the handling of that merger.
While the DOJ initially sued to block the acquisition, it later settled the case, with Slater reportedly being overruled in the decision.
One of the ex-officials, Roger Alford, later slammed senior DOJ leadership for allegedly allowing politically connected lobbyists to influence decision-making.
"It felt like it was just reaching a boiling point where either Slater was going to have to perhaps relent on some of her personal political philosophies or go this route of deciding to leave the administration instead," Tedford added.
Check out the full report at TheHill.com tomorrow.
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