Abrupt, Major Shakeups in the DoJ’s Antitrust Division
By Paul Steidler: Two top officials in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division have been “fired amid (an) internal feud,” proclaims a July 29 Wall Street Journal headline.
The Journal’s take: “The Justice Department has fired two of its most senior antitrust enforcers after internal disagreements over how much discretion their division should have to police mergers and other business conduct that threatens competition.”
One of the two officials is Roger Alford, who served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General. He was the second in command to Gail Slater, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Antitrust Division of the DoJ. William Rinner, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, was also relieved of his duties. Messrs. Alford and Rinner had also worked in the DoJ during the first Trump Administration.
Much about the firings is unclear and subject to speculation. A central contention is that Messrs. Alford and Rinner were somehow at odds with Chad Mizelle, chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi, on a settlement agreement on Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE’s) acquisition of Juniper Networks.
Relatively modest remedies were agreed upon and the settlement agreement was signed on June 27. According to The New York Times, “Trump-allied consultants whom HPE had hired” brought about the settlement process.
The firings reportedly happened over the objections of AAG Slater, according to The Wall Street Journal, who after taking office in March hired the two officials. This seems borne out by recent statements. In June 24 testimony to the U.S. Senate, Roger Alford said, “It is an honor to work with Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater and the wonderful attorneys, economists, and staff at the Antitrust Division.”
In a LinkedIn post earlier today, William Rinner was quite gracious, saying, “It was an honor to serve in this Administration alongside such dedicated professionals in the Division and Department of Justice. I would like to thank AAG Gail Slater and DoJ leadership for the opportunity.”
On July 17, AAG Slater was part of an important White House meeting to re-evaluate mergers policy that included top officials from the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Federal Trade Commission.
Meanwhile, the DoJ has been rather silent on the firings. While information about Messrs. Alford and Rinner has been removed from the DoJ’s website, so far an official statement has not been issued nor has anything about this been tweeted from the Antitrust Division’s Twitter/X account, @JusticeATR.
The business and legal communities, and the general public, would be best served by greater transparency and official communication on this issue, which hopefully will happen soon.