In a recent letter addressed to oversight officials within the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ), a collection of Republican senators called for a federal investigation into the “systematic leaking” of imminent antitrust actions to favored media outlets. On Thursday, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) strongly condemned these allegations, calling upon DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz and FTC Inspector General Andrew Katsaros to “investigate promptly these systematic, unethical, and potentially illegal leaks.”
American for Tax Reform applauds Republican senators of exposing this FTC-DOJ pipeline of media manipulation, which unfairly victimizes American companies in an effort to subsidize the courtroom failures of the Biden-Harris administration.
Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has not shied away from leveraging the administrative state to bully its corporate foes into compliance. For instance, following Elon Musk’s recent bout as a vocal critic of the White House, President Biden noted that Musk, an American citizen for over twenty years, was “worthy of being looked at” for his alleged relationships with foreign countries. Since this ominous remark in late 2022, Musk has been subjected to an avalanche of inconclusive investigations from the DOJ, FTC, FCC, FAA, and the NLRB.
But while administrative attrition has become a preferred tactic of the Biden administration, the potency of FTC and DOJ investigations within the court of law have been lacking for some time. According to a recent report published by both agencies, the FTC claimed only one litigated win for an enforcement action during FY 2023, compared with ten lawsuits that were “abandoned or restructured” after pushback from defendants. The DOJ did not fare much better over the same period, claiming only two litigated wins in relation to ten pre-complaint retreats. Faced with such impotence within the courtroom, it is unsurprising that FTC and DOJ officials have opted to subsidize their cases in the court of public opinion through strategic media leaks.
In the letter, lawmakers expressed interest in whether senior officials within the DOJ and FTC “have violated their own ethics rules by systematically leaking potential antitrust cases to a specific media outlet.” It should be noted that both the FTC and the DOJ strictly prohibit leaks concerning civil cases before they have been officially filed. The group of senators explained that since 2023, Bloomberg News has reported on twelve instances where both agencies were “‘preparing’” or “‘poised’” to take imminent action within a specific antitrust investigation. Eleven of these stories have been authored by the same reporter. The lawmakers argued that this pattern suggests “that certain officials at the FTC and DOJ are intentionally publicizing legal action days or weeks before filing.”
The group of senators strongly criticized such actions, explaining that “these leaks result in negative headlines about the [Biden-Harris] administration’s targets while the targeted companies have no way to respond, as they haven’t yet seen the potential lawsuits.” In addition to their “unethical nature”, lawmakers explained that the negative impacts of these premature leaks would be felt by a number of innocent, unconcerned parties, including company employees and shareholders.
While the letter conceded that American businesses should certainly be held accountable for wrongdoing, lawmakers insisted that “the Biden-Harris administration shouldn’t try them in the liberal media.” Unfortunately, due to the routine legal failures of the FTC and the DOJ, senior agency officials have chosen to rig the court of public opinion in their favor. As the senators concluded, “these leaks appear to be simply one more instance of this administration weaponizing the administrative state against politically disfavored opponents and critics.”
The American people deserve administrative leadership that respects the objectivity of the judicial process. Rather than subsidizing misguided lawsuits through strategic media leaks, the FTC and DOJ should acknowledge that their radical bids to shape American antitrust doctrine are not going to prevail anytime soon.
Americans for Tax Reform applauds Republican senators for highlighting this unethical pattern of FTC and DOJ media manipulation, which victimizes American businesses and unfairly distorts public opinion on antitrust enforcement.
The post ATR Applauds Senate Republicans for Condemning FTC-DOJ Media Leak Pipeline appeared first on Americans for Tax Reform.
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Author: Lawson Faulkner
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