‘Good Riddance’: How a MAGA Acolyte Helped Oust Antitrust Chief

Abigail Slater’s ouster as the Trump administration’s antitrust chief was abrupt, yet also a long time coming.

On Thursday morning, Slater was telling confidants in Washington that she intended to move forward with the agency’s work, even as rumors circulated she might be leaving. Just before 11 a.m., she announced her departure in a post on X.

Slater, who took over as the top antitrust cop less than a year ago, had gotten a call from the White House personnel office, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It was the culmination of months of tensions with more business-friendly factions in the administration, along with the influence of government outsiders like Mike Davis, a MAGA firebrand who has emerged as a powerful advocate for companies seeking mergers.

Abigail Slater

Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg

Davis and other Republicans close to Trump have wielded significant influence over the Justice Department’s antitrust efforts, acting as intermediaries between corporate America and federal enforcers, according to interviews with people close to the agency’s workings. Superiors often wrested control over key decisions from Slater, seen as a pro-enforcement official who carried over the Biden administration’s tough approach to deals. An Oxford-educated lawyer who advised the first Trump administration on technology policy, Slater also spent 10 years at the Federal Trade Commission.

Companies including Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Compass Inc. hired Davis to resolve their matters with the DOJ and ultimately circumvent Slater, if necessary, successfully pitching allies in the administration on their behalf, according to people familiar with his work. Ticketmaster owner Live Nation Entertainment Inc. also is leaning on him — and Trump allies including Kellyanne Conway — to help settle an antitrust lawsuit to break up the company, hoping he can help it avoid a March 2 jury trial in New York.

Davis, who had initially backed Slater’s appointment — he posted a congratulations selfie with her after her Senate confirmation in March — had since fallen out with her and started a campaign to undermine her, the people say. Davis addressed his criticism of Slater directly with Trump in a recent meeting, which accelerated her removal, according to another person.

On Thursday, he posted his response to her departure: “Good riddance.”

Antitrust, which had been one of Washington’s rare areas of bipartisan agreement, has become another arena in Trump’s second term where influence and proximity to power can sway outcomes. While companies have long hired lobbyists to influence Congress, enforcers at the Justice Department and FTC were largely insulated from that kind of advocacy.

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Antitrust enforcers have traditionally enjoyed “considerable autonomy” from Justice Department leaders and the White House, said William Kovacic, who served as George W. Bush’s Federal Trade Commission chair.

That allows the agency to argue “the professional view of the department is being followed,” said Kovacic, now an antitrust professor at George Washington University Law School. The involvement of lobbyists raises questions about whether “the antitrust analysis counts for anything anymore or is it a sideshow?”

“You can go to the podium and talk about the rule of law,” he said, “but people might laugh at you now.”

This look at Slater’s exit and the tensions that preceded it is based on interviews with more than a dozen lawyers who work within the Justice Department or interact directly with antitrust staff. They asked not to be named discussing internal matters.

Slater, 54, declined to comment. Davis declined to comment on his role in her departure. In an X post late Thursday in response to how their relationship soured, he said he was “eager to tell this story” and that “it won’t end well for Gail.”

The White House referred comment to the Justice Department, which declined to comment beyond a statement released by Attorney General Pam Bondi thanking Slater for her service.

Pushing Deals Through

US agencies wrapped up just 16 major merger probes in 2025, according to the law firm Dechert. That was the lowest in 15 years, except when dealmaking slowed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first year of Trump’s first term, by contrast, the antitrust agencies finished 27 investigations.

Slater’s boss, associate US Attorney General and former White House lawyer Stanley Woodward, has taken the stance that blatant violations of the antitrust laws are rare and the agency should focus on clearing mergers quickly and seeking settlements to efficiently resolve antitrust concerns and improve affordability, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking.

Trump’s return to the White House has also brought a surge in activity among Republican-aligned lobbyists and lawyers. Jeff Miller, who raised tens of millions of dollars for Trump’s 2024 campaign; Brian Ballard, whose Ballard Partners formerly employed Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; and former South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy are among those who have been hired to advocate on behalf of particular corporate deals or individuals under antitrust scrutiny.

But Davis stands out, because of his close connections to the president and hardball tactics.

An outspoken critic of the Big Tech companies, Davis, 48, previously clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and worked on judicial nominations as a Senate staffer during Trump’s first term. That included helping oversee the contentious confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who faced accusations that he sexually assaulted a fellow student in high school.

Mike Davis at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

Photographer: Jason C. Andrew/Bloomberg

Davis founded the conservative legal group Article III Project, which advocates for judges friendly to the Trump administration. He is particularly active on X, which suspended him for “hateful conduct” multiple times before Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover. He frequently posts right-wing memes and comments supportive of Trump and Bondi.

Just this month, he made social media posts implying that Slater leaked confidential informationabout DOJ investigations and referencing the “Irish terrier.” Slater was born in Dublin.

Davis’ role as a fixer started with the very first antitrust case of Trump’s second term.

In January 2025, newly installed Trump officials at the Justice Department signed off on a lawsuit to block HPE’s $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks Inc. At the time, antimonopoly advocates including Davis hailed the suit as proof the Trump DOJ would take an aggressive stance.

HPE responded by assembling a politically connected advisory team, hiring William Levi, a former chief of staff to former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr. Levi in turn brought in Davis and Republican strategist Arthur Schwartz.

Slater, a veteran of Trump’s first administration, was skeptical of the arguments. Davis and Levi then appealed to higher-ranking Justice Department officials who overruled her.

On a Friday night in late June — less than two weeks before the trial was set to begin — the Justice Department announced it had reached a settlement with HPE.

The resulting dustup led to the firing of two of Slater’s deputies and an ongoing court proceeding under a Watergate-era anticorruption law. It also cemented Davis as an in-demand fixer — someone who could use his MAGA credibility built up from an uncompromising defense of Trump — for companies with antitrust problems. Davis and others are expected to be deposed in the court proceeding in the coming weeks.

Davis has used the HPE settlement as his calling card in talks with other companies pursuing deals, according to people familiar with his presentation. Charging fees climbing into hundreds of thousands of dollars per month, he offers not just arguments to the antitrust department but also the ability to go above Slater to top officials at the Trump Justice Department or the White House, said the people.

Davis said he hasn’t offered end runs around Slater. “It’s unsurprising that Bloomberg wants to run this fake news,” he said.

Compass and Anywhere Real Estate Inc. hired Davis to aid their deal to combine the two largest US residential brokerages, creating a player more than double the size of its next closest competitor. In securities filings, the companies advised that the deal wouldn’t close until late 2026 as the antitrust review was expected to last for months.

Going around Slater, Davis persuaded more senior Trump officials at the Justice Department to ignore the recommendation for an in-depth merger review, according to people familiar with the probe. Compass and Anywhere closed the deal on Jan. 9, though state reviews of the transaction remain ongoing. Compass didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Davis also is working with Live Nation, whose shares climbed Thursday after news of Slater’s departure. A representative for the company didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Higher Appeals

Davis is by no means unique in seeking to court powerful figures within the administration.

Netflix Inc., for example, has tried to cultivate itself with Trump and the Justice Department as it undergoes an antitrust review of its $82.7 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. As part of that, the company has appealed to higher levels at the Justice Department.

In late December – weeks after Netflix beat out Paramount Skydance in a bidding war for Warner Bros. – the streaming company’s lead antitrust lawyer spoke with Woodward’s staff to argue for the deal, according to people familiar with the meeting.

It’s not unusual for companies to plead their case to senior DOJ officials, and Slater’s predecessors have all butted heads with their bosses — but that typically occurs later in the process. Netflix’s decision to go above Slater from the beginning underscores how it has become a more standard part of the strategy. Netflix declined to comment.

Woodward, who represented Jan. 6 defendants and the Trump aide indicted for destroying classified documents, is viewed as business-friendly and companies have increasingly sought to appeal to him on investigations. He has pushed to be involved in reviews from their inception, believing settlements can be a speedy resolution. The push for fast settlements frequently put Woodward and Slater at odds.

The signs that Slater was on the outs had been mounting. The Justice Department had approved for her to attend an antitrust meeting hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris in December — then abruptly called her back to the US mid-trip.

Last week, she sought to replace her chief of staff, Sara Matar, borrowed last year from the US Attorney’s office in Washington.

After deciding to end Matar’s detail to the antitrust division on Feb. 6, Slater posted about her departure on X and thanked her for her service. Bondi, however, overruled Slater’s decision.

The post was quickly deleted.

--With assistance from Nancy Cook.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Leah Nylen in Washington at lnylen2@bloomberg.net;
Josh Sisco in San Francisco at jsisco6@bloomberg.net

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

Kara Wetzel

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