Durbin, Booker Lead Judiciary Democrats In A Letter To Attorney General Bondi On Politicization Of Antitrust Enforcement Activity At DOJ

Durbin, Booker Lead Judiciary Democrats In A Letter To Attorney General Bondi On Politicization Of Antitrust Enforcement Activity At DOJ

In the letter, the Senators cite extreme departures from DOJ processes that led to the proposed settlement in Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, Inc.

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi regarding the Department of Justice's (DOJ) troubling approach to recent antitrust matters and partisan weaponization of DOJ's Antitrust Division-including the extreme departures from Department process that led to the proposed settlement in Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE) $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, Inc. (Juniper). Along with Durbin, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Peter Welch (D-VT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Adam Schiff (D-CA).

The Senators wrote, "These concerns build upon larger issues with the Trump Administration's abuse of its regulatory and enforcement authority over anti-competitive practices, mergers, acquisitions, and other potential antitrust enforcement activity to secure partisan victories for President Trump at the expense of lower costs for Americans."

On January 30, 2025, under the Trump Administration, DOJ's Antitrust Division challenged HPE's acquisition of Juniper. These two companies, along with another rival, control the majority of the enterprise-grade WLAN solutions market, and DOJ's challenge alleged that "the proposed acquisition would result in two firms controlling over 70 percent of the relevant market." However, on June 28, DOJ abruptly proposed a settlement 11 days before trial. Notably, this proposed settlement does not address the primary concern animating DOJ's original challenge-market duopoly-and instead only requires HPE to divest its Instant On business, which targets small- and medium-sized businesses, a market that is completely separate from large enterprises. There appears to be a post-hoc rationalization that national security interests triggered this settlement, but DOJ's own proposed settlement does not mention national security. In fact, DOJ's Competitive Impact Statement, filed along with the proposed settlement, argued that the merger would hurt American consumers because Huawei Technologies Company is barred from competing for domestic U.S. business for national-security reasons, shrinking the available market. The disconnect between the settlement and the premise of the suit suggests that the settlement arose for reasons other than law and public interest.

"These concerns are only exacerbated by lobbying that reportedly induced this settlement, and which appears to have resulted in senior DOJ leadership sidelining the Antitrust Division," the Senators continued.

Reportedly, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Gail Slater opposed settling this case, but she was overruled by Attorney General Bondi's Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle. Further reports indicate that after Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roger Alford and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bill Rinner-Ms. Slater's then top two officials in the Antitrust Division-did not sign the agreement, they were placed on administrative leave and ultimately terminated for allegedly opposing this settlement. These actions appear to stem from HPE's direct lobbying of the White House, an inappropriate pressure campaign that Congress has directly legislated against with the Antitrust Procedures and Penalties Act (also known as the Tunney Act). HPE only disclosed two lobbyists or consultants-Mike Davis, a Republican activist with ties to President Trump and the White House, and Will Levi, a law firm partner-pursuant to its obligations under the Tunney Act, but reports indicate that HPE also retained Arthur Schwartz, who has strong ties to Vice President Vance and Donald Trump, Jr., in order to secure this settlement.

"This lack of transparency, along with the apparent overruling of the subject-matter experts in the Antitrust Division by senior DOJ leadership, signal that DOJ likely handled this case inappropriately. It also calls into question how other enforcement actions will proceed, such as the monopolization suit filed against Live Nation-Ticketmaster last year, now that Live Nation-Ticketmaster has also retained Mike Davis as a lobbyist," the Senators continued. "This troubling development in the Antitrust Division does not appear to be a one-off, but rather part of a larger trend of the Trump Administration abusing its antitrust regulatory and enforcement authority to secure partisan victories for President Trump's personal benefit."

In the letter, the Senators cite other instances where the Trump Administration is abusing antitrust regulation. For example, they cite a UnitedHealth's acquisition of Amedisys Inc. This abuse of the Administration's antitrust enforcement power is a continuation of President Trump's weaponization of antitrust laws for political gain.

The Senators continued, "Ensuring competitive markets exist is crucial to fostering innovation and driving down prices, and the Administration is currently pursuing several other antitrust matters in order to pursue these goals. These matters, however, should not be subject to political interference or weaponized as a means to reward the President's political allies and punish his enemies."

To ensure that our antitrust laws are properly enforced, the Senators demand AG Bondi provide documents and information about this matter no later than September 19, 2025.

Full text of the letter can be found here.

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