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Bondi Aides Corrupted Antitrust Enforcement, Ousted DOJ Official Says
WSJ - Gift LinkAn antitrust lawyer who was dismissed last month from the Justice Department accused senior officials of cutting deals with favored lobbyists and undermining the independence of antitrust enforcement.
Roger Alford, formerly the antitrust division’s second-in-command, on Monday said two senior aides to Attorney General Pam Bondi had corrupted the department’s typical law-enforcement process for dealing with antitrust lawsuits. The two senior officials were heavily involved in negotiating a proposed settlement in June that allowed Hewlett Packard Enterprise to acquire a competitor, Juniper Networks.
Alford called on a federal court in San Jose, Calif., that is overseeing the Justice Department’s proposed resolution to “examine the surprising truth of what happened.” Federal courts have authority to look for any backroom dealings that could have influenced the settlement of a merger lawsuit.
“I hope the court blocks the HPE/Juniper merger,” Alford said in a speech at the Technology Policy Institute in Aspen, Colo. “If you knew what I knew, you would hope so too.”
The Justice Department’s antitrust division sued to block HPE’s bid for Juniper Networks shortly after President Trump took office. The department said in January that merging the two rivals would harm competition in the market for wireless-networking technology. HPE hired Trump political allies such as Mike Davis and Arthur Schwartz to fight back and help it reach a settlement that would allow the $14 billion deal to close.
Roger Alford, formerly the antitrust division’s second-in-command, on Monday said two senior aides to Attorney General Pam Bondi had corrupted the department’s typical law-enforcement process for dealing with antitrust lawsuits. The two senior officials were heavily involved in negotiating a proposed settlement in June that allowed Hewlett Packard Enterprise to acquire a competitor, Juniper Networks.
Alford called on a federal court in San Jose, Calif., that is overseeing the Justice Department’s proposed resolution to “examine the surprising truth of what happened.” Federal courts have authority to look for any backroom dealings that could have influenced the settlement of a merger lawsuit.
“I hope the court blocks the HPE/Juniper merger,” Alford said in a speech at the Technology Policy Institute in Aspen, Colo. “If you knew what I knew, you would hope so too.”
The Justice Department’s antitrust division sued to block HPE’s bid for Juniper Networks shortly after President Trump took office. The department said in January that merging the two rivals would harm competition in the market for wireless-networking technology. HPE hired Trump political allies such as Mike Davis and Arthur Schwartz to fight back and help it reach a settlement that would allow the $14 billion deal to close.
Wow
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley.bsky.social) 2025-08-18T19:58:20.927Z