A powerful member of the Federal Trade Commission has been working her high-profile post remotely – despite President Trump’s demands that federal employees show up to the office five days a week, The Post has learned.
Melissa Holyoak, a Republican FTC commissioner who was confirmed by the Senate in March 2024, never moved to Washington DC and has instead continued to live in Utah with her husband and four young children, sources close to the situation told The Post.
The top US regulator’s appearances at the FTC’s offices at 600 Pennsylvania Ave. — just a few blocks down the street from the White House — have been so infrequent that they have seemed noteworthy when they actually happen, the sources said.
“I would never see her in the office,” one former FTC official told The Post. “She would only fly in for the holiday parties.”
That’s despite Holyoak being one of just two remaining members on the five-seat panel following Trump’s surprise firings of two Democratic commissioners earlier this month. It’s also despite a clampdown by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, after the president in January ordered most federal employees to work in the office full time or be fired.
“I’ve never heard of a commissioner living on the other side of the country. I think it was a weird situation,” according to a second official who recently left the agency.
“Most of the staff expected she was going to move to DC,” the source added. “This is a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position. For someone at that level to phone it in was surprising.”
The 39-year-old official recently claimed a coveted office at FTC headquarters with a balcony, high ceilings, an unobstructed view of the Capitol building and its own private bathroom, sources said. The office was formerly occupied by FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson, the other remaining commissioner who relocated after his appointment to the top spot.
“I am honored to serve as a Commissioner for the Trump-Vance FTC, and work alongside my friend, Chairman Andrew Ferguson, and our talented nationwide staff to protect hard-working Americans from fraud, to lower prices for healthcare and other consumer goods, and to rein in Big Tech,” Holyoak said in a statement. “The FTC’s work isn’t limited to just Washington, D.C.—the agency has a nationwide remit.”
A source close to Holyoak said she moved into Ferguson’s old office only after the Democratic commissioners, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, were fired on March 18.
The source also pushed back on the notion that Holyoak hasn’t spent enough time onsite, asserting that she has met extensively, in person, with personnel in key departments across the FTC since she was confirmed in 2024, including the bureaus of competition, consumer protection and economics.
“For six out of the last eight weeks, the commissioner has traveled to DC on her own dime and has worked out of DC,” the source said. “During the other two weeks, she traveled to two regional offices to meet with staff in person.”
Holyoak has visited four of the FTC’s regional offices in person, including three within the last two months. She has also spoken at 16 different events in the last two months to “share the Trump-Vance FTC’s priorities and agenda,” the source added.
Nonetheless, sources insist that Holyoak had little contact with rank-and-file staffers at the FTC that carried out the agency’s day-to-day business during their time with the agency.
Time zone differences and a lack of face time made it “hard to build a connection with her” and occasionally made it “more difficult to engage in the business of the agency,” the second ex-FTC source added.
Before Trump’s election win, most FTC employees were required to come in at least twice per pay period, though many opted to come in more often, sources said.
Bedoya and Slaughter, the two fired Democrat commissioners, have called the dismissals illegal and have sued to reverse them.
Holyoak and Ferguson, both Republicans, are named as co-defendants. Mark Meador, who was nominated by Trump to be the third Republican FTC commissioner, is expected to be confirmed but he has yet to receive a full Senate vote.
DOGE offered buyouts to millions of workers who did not want to comply as part of a broad, Trump-backed effort to cut federal spending and waste. DOGE has also clamped down on federal travel budgets, with some exemptions for law enforcement and immigration officials.
Holyoak, the former solicitor general of Utah, also spent five years as an attorney for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The think tank “advocates abolishing antitrust law” and has drawn funding from Big Tech firms like Google, Meta and Amazon.
Before Ferguson landed the top gig, Holyoak’s status as a Republican and active FTC commissioner placed her on the de facto shortlist of potential candidates to replace Democrat Lina Khan as agency chair earlier this year.
As The Post reported at the time, a perception that Holyoak was too soft on Big Tech hindered her bid.
Since taking over as chair, Ferguson has vowed to continue a crackdown on Big Tech, including pursuit of an upcoming antitrust case against Meta that could result in the company’s breakup. Ferguson has also backed Trump’s decision to fire the FTC’s two Democratic commissioners.
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