The Scoop
A group of Senate Democrats criticized the ouster of the Justice Department’s antitrust chief last week, which signaled the Trump administration is likely to take a lighter approach to regulating corporate mergers.
Seven senators, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi Saturday seeking DOJ records related to the firing of Gail Slater. They also requested communications between the department’s brass and lobbyists for ticketing giant Live Nation, whose upcoming monopoly case the company had been trying to settle over Slater’s objections, Semafor previously reported.
“We are especially concerned about Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s attempts to evade responsibility by convincing Justice Department leadership to settle the case on terms favorable to the company, rather than fans, artists, and independent venues,” Sens. Klobuchar, Dick Durbin, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Peter Welch, Adam Schiff and Mazie Hirono wrote.
No Republicans signed the letter, though Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Tim Scott, R-S.C. have both been critical of Netflix’s pending deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the subject of an ongoing DOJ review.
The Live Nation case was the final flashpoint in months of simmering tensions between Slater and top Trump DOJ officials. The company has been negotiating a settlement, opposed by Slater, to avoid a trial that could break it up along the lines of its 2010 merger.
The disagreements began early in Trump’s second term, when DOJ officials approved HPE’s $14 billion takeover of Juniper Networks. That deal and others that followed were cleared over the objections of top antitrust division staff including Slater.
Slater’s departure, which she wrote on X came with “great sadness and abiding hope,” removes one of the Trump administration’s merger skeptics and leaves companies with a clearer path toward consolidation.
“Her resignation is especially concerning given numerous reports that the experts and attorneys at the Antitrust Division have repeatedly been sidelined by leadership at the Justice Department” in the reviews of Live Nation, HPE-Juniper, and another merger involving real-estate brokerage Compass, the senators wrote. A DOJ spokesperson didn’t immediately comment.
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Live Nation, Compass, and HPE all tapped the services of influential Trump lawyer Mike Davis, who was a onetime ally of Slater’s but publicly turned on her.
Davis is one of several former Trump advisors who are now helping big companies smooth their dealmaking approvals; Kellyanne Conway is advising Netflix in its attempt to acquire Warner Bros., Jason Miller is working with Paramount’s interloping consortium, while Warner Bros. has tapped Chris LaCavita.