Republican FTC Official Resigns, Citing Chair Khan’s Agenda (1)

Christine Wilson, the sole Republican on the Federal Trade Commission, on Tuesday announced she is resigning from the agency over her fierce opposition to progressive FTC Chair Lina Khan’s agenda.

Wilson, who has spent months publicly criticizing Khan’s efforts to crack down on corporate power using antitrust laws, said she is resigning due to Khan’s “defiance of legal precedent and her abuse of power to achieve desired outcomes.”

“I have failed repeatedly to persuade Ms. Khan and her enablers to do the right thing, and I refuse to give their endeavor any further hint of legitimacy by remaining,” Wilson wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Christine Wilson

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Wilson’s departure will leave the FTC without a GOP leader, although there is an effort underway to nominate a new Republican to sit on the commission soon. Republican FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips stepped down from the agency late last year, but he was less explicit in calling out Khan and her senior staff.

Khan and the two Democratic commissioners said in a statement that they wish Wilson “well in her next endeavor.”

“While we often disagreed with Commissioner Wilson, we respect her devotion to her beliefs and are grateful for her public service,” the FTC commissioners said.

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Khan has been the subject of ire for free-market and libertarian conservatives since she was nominated as chair in 2021. She previously served as a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee during its months-long investigation into the country’s largest tech companies. As an academic at Columbia University, Khan advocated for paring back the power of tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc using antitrust laws. She’s a leader in the progressive movement to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement.

Wilson in her op-ed took issue with a number of Khan’s initiatives, including an effort to ban the use of contractual clauses barring workers from competing with their former employers in the US and to dramatically expand the FTC’s authority to take action against corporate malfeasance.

“We all know the simple rule: If you see something, say something,” Wilson wrote. “Consider this my noisy exit.”

(Updates with FTC comment in fifth paragraph.)

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Emily Birnbaum in Washington at ebirnbaum3@bloomberg.net

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Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Romy Varghese, Elizabeth Wasserman

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