Gail Slater’s ouster from the Trump administration as head of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division is proof that the traditional conservative wing of the Republican Party still has a voice in the populist MAGA movement, On The Money has learned.
And it was a long time coming.
Since her appointment 11 months ago, Slater and her team have ruffled feathers both in the business community and with key, pro-business members of Trump’s team for at times charting a more populist approach to antitrust matters on mergers and acquisitions, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Among those who clashed with Slater was Kevin Hassett, a close confidant of President Trump who is a key economic adviser and was nearly selected as Fed chair, sources said. Hassett has been on the forefront of touting the Trump economic agenda that includes for the most part deregulation to spur economic growth.
But deregulation wasn’t a top priority at the antitrust division, Slater’s critics say. Deals such as Netflix’s planned $72 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery would get the same review as those that were just a fraction of the size, said one merger lawyer who asked not to be quoted by name.
“The tiniest deals would face mountains of paperwork and it was so time consuming and unnecessary,” this person said. “Gail would respond ‘we have a process,’ but it was a process worse than when it happened under Obama and Biden.” Former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden were considered the least deal-friendly presidents in modern history.
Another key battle for Slater involved a DOJ antitrust lawsuit over the merger of Hewlett-Packard and Juniper Networks. Again, Slater appeared to be overruled inside the administration for taking a more stridently populist approach to the settlement terms. One of her deputies was fired after the fallout, and later in a speech attacked “MAGA-In-Name-Only lobbyists and DOJ officials.”
Slater’s job was certainly a difficult one. MAGA populism is often at odds with traditional Republican, free-market capitalism. President Trump seems to embody that contradiction; he proposes tax cuts and deregulation but has also pushed for populist policies like tariffs that favor US goods over imports.
Plus, the president always seems to be in the shadows of any big antitrust issue. Trump has promised to play a deciding role in whether the antitrust division will give the green light to any of the Warner Bros. Discovery’s suitors in its sale to Netflix or rival Paramount Skydance.
Amid the tumult, rumors swirled for months that Slater was about to resign; she was a former senior adviser to Vice President JD Vance, which helped her remain in the post despite the steady stream of attacks. But eventually her support in the administration began to wither, particularly with her direct bosses, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and deputy AG Todd Blanche, legal insiders tell On The Money
Earlier in the week, when her No. 2, Mark Hamer left the DOJ, fresh rumors began to circulate in DC she was next to go. On Thursday Slater announced her departure in an X posting: “It is with great sadness and abiding hope that I leave my role as AAG for Antitrust today. It was indeed the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role.”
She gave no reason why she was leaving less than a year after her appointment; the White House referred press inquiries to the DOJ, which had no immediate comment.
Omeed Assefi, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, will become the interim antitrust chief, sources close to the matter say. Blanche, however, will play a key role in stabilizing the department before a full-team antitrust leader can be found.
As news of Slater’s departure spread through DC on Thursday, Wall Street dealmakers and traders, so-called arbs or arbitrageurs, began frantically calling their legal reps and sources inside the administration to determine what it will mean for various transactions the department has jurisdiction over.
Among them: The Netflix purchase of Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming and studio, which has significant antitrust impactions since it merges the No. 1 and No. 3 streamers. Netflix also faces scrutiny as a streaming monopoly (the streaming giant says it hasn’t been made aware of a broader investigation other than its deal to buy pieces of WBD). Meanwhile, its deal is being challenged by Paramount Skydance looking to buy the entire company and merge two large studios.
“It’s hard to say what all this means for this deal or any deal,” one merger lawyer told On The Money. “All we know is that Trump usually has the final say over the big ones.”
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