Gail Slater, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, told a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday that resource availability would be a critical factor in pursuing high-profile cases against Big Tech.
Slater, an experienced antitrust lawyer and economic adviser to Vice President JD Vance, would oversee cases targeting monopolistic practices if confirmed as the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for antitrust.
Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah and head of the antitrust subcommittee, questioned Slater about her stance on ongoing litigation against Apple, Google, and other tech giants—cases initiated during Trump’s first term and carried over into the Biden administration.
Slater acknowledged the complexities and high costs of such lawsuits. “Resources are of course a very important consideration in antitrust litigation, in taking cases further. It is very complex civil litigation and costly, so that will be a consideration,” she said. She also pledged to advocate for sufficient resources to continue enforcement.
The DOJ is actively suing Google for its dominance in online advertising markets and recently won a case confirming Google’s illegal monopoly in online search. Additionally, the DOJ and state attorneys general have accused companies like Apple, LiveNation, and Visa of anticompetitive practices.
Slater expressed her commitment to collaborating with state attorneys general from both parties on these cases.
Senator Cory Booker, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s antitrust committee, voiced concerns about how efforts by Tesla CEO and Trump adviser Elon Musk to downsize the federal workforce could hinder the DOJ’s antitrust enforcement. “Any efforts by Musk and Trump to fire or push out federal employees charged with enforcing our antitrust laws will hurt Americans at a time when families are struggling,” Booker said.
Slater’s background includes positions at Fox Corp and Roku, as well as representing major tech firms at the now-defunct Internet Association. She began her career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and spent a decade at the Federal Trade Commission.