The Justice Department’s top antitrust official, Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater, announced Thursday on X that she was leaving her job, effective immediately.
Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked Slater in a statement. Sources told the Financial Times that Omeed Assefi, another official in the antitrust division, would be the division’s acting director.
Coming after months of internal clashes over merger enforcement and corporate oversight, Slater’s departure marks a setback for the administration’s more aggressive antitrust wing. She was seen as aligned with the administration’s more populist faction and had previously advised Vice President J.D. Vance in the Senate.
Slater’s exit follows reported disputes with senior Justice Department leadership, including Bondi. The antitrust division is litigating major cases against companies including Google, Live Nation, Apple, and Visa. Slater’s exit leaves the antitrust division without confirmed leadership as it pursues those high-profile corporate cases.
Shares of Live Nation, which will face a March 2 trial over allegations it monopolized concert promotion and ticketing through its subsidiary Ticketmaster, rose after Slater’s departure.
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