Former Trump DOJ Official Named Interim Antitrust Chief (1)

Omeed Assefi, a former Trump Justice Department official, has been tapped to temporarily lead the antitrust division.

Assefi, who is already a criminal prosecutor in the division, will oversee the unit pending the confirmation of Gail Slater, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the role, according to people with knowledge of the matter and an internal memo viewed by Bloomberg News.

As interim antitrust chief, Assefi will supervise all active cases and investigations, including the Justice Department’s lawsuits against Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc. and Live Nation Entertainment Inc., among others. Those cases reflect the stepped-up antitrust agenda under the Biden administration, which made competition a cornerstone of its economic policy.

In a brief video address on Tuesday to staff across the antitrust division, Assefi praised the work of the Biden Administration under antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter, and pledged to continue with the aggressive stance going forward, according to one of the people. There will be no “relaxation” of enforcement, he said.

Read more: Trump’s Antitrust Trio Heralds Big-Tech Crackdown to Continue

Assefi previously worked in the White House Counsel’s office under Emmet Flood, who served as interim White House Counsel in the first Trump Administration. He later joined the DOJ’s civil rights division. For much of the last several years he was an assistant US attorney in the District of Columbia, according to court records. He joined the antitrust division last year.

Assefi’s appointment represents a break from tradition. The acting position usually goes to the division’s most senior career official, who is the head of criminal antitrust enforcement. That person is career attorney Manish Kumar, who wasn’t selected for the role.

The Justice Department and Assefi didn’t respond to requests for comment.

(Updates with Assefi remarks to antitrust division staff in fourth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Leah Nylen.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Josh Sisco in San Francisco at jsisco6@bloomberg.net;
Zoe Tillman in Washington at ztillman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Elizabeth Wasserman

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