The Scoop
Makan Delrahim, a top antitrust cop in Donald Trump’s first administration, has been in touch with the transition team in recent weeks about running the Federal Trade Commission, people familiar with the matter said.
It’s a lightning-rod position after current FTC Chair Lina Khan used the agency to block deals under an expansive view of anti-competitive behavior. Now Trump’s Wall Street and corporate supporters want a freer hand for mergers, while Vice President-Elect JD Vance represents a populist wing of the party that’s as skeptical as progressives are of corporate consolidation.
One person familiar with the situation said Delrahim was also interested in the role of deputy attorney general, and at one point sought support from Rep. Jim Jordan, a close Trump ally. It’s unclear whether Delrahim is a leading contender for the FTC and would be willing to leave a plum spot at corporate law firm Latham & Watkins to return to a position similar to one he already held.
FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak is favored by Big Tech, but those ties could also hurt her among certain conservative groups.
Delrahim declined to comment.
Know More
Delrahim defied easy classification during his time running the Justice Department’s competition division from 2017 to 2021. He sued to block deals including AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner, a merger clouded by public pressure from Trump. Delrahim also brought price-fixing cases against chicken producers and drugmakers, and sued Google in 2020 in the first of a series of monopoly cases against Big Tech that later became defining features of the Biden’s administration’s antitrust legacy.
But he allowed T-Mobile’s sale to Sprint, a deal the Obama administration had blocked, and suggested that the tech industry should have a hand in its own oversight. That track record could bridge two Republican camps starkly divided over corporate competition.
Notable
- Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the Trump administration may bring “an opportunity for consolidation that may be quite different.” Subscale and struggling to compete in streaming, WBD is widely seen as an M&A candidate.
