Gail Slater, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, has been pushed out of the Trump administration following months of internal conflict and deteriorating relationships with top officials, according to people familiar with the decision.
Slater, who served as assistant attorney general for antitrust, announced her departure Thursday, saying she was leaving her role with “great sadness.” Sources indicated she was given a choice to resign or be dismissed.
Her exit comes after a prolonged rift with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had reportedly informed the White House that their disagreements over the division’s direction and management could not be resolved. The breakdown in their working relationship ultimately cleared the way for Slater’s removal.
Slater also lost crucial backing outside the department. Vice President JD Vance, once considered her most influential supporter, had grown frustrated in recent months. According to one person familiar with the situation, Vance objected to Slater repeatedly invoking his name in conversations with colleagues and suggesting she had his protection, despite his objections to that characterization. Over time, his willingness to shield her diminished.
The turning point appears to have centered on Slater’s effort last summer to block a $14 billion merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, a major deal in the cloud-computing and networking sector. Slater opposed the transaction on antitrust grounds, arguing it risked creating an overly concentrated market.
However, the case quickly became politically sensitive. Slater reportedly told Bondi that U.S. intelligence agencies had not raised national security concerns about blocking the merger — an important factor that can influence whether such deals proceed. But CIA Director John Ratcliffe later indicated that halting the merger could, in fact, present national security risks and questioned why his agency had not been consulted.
The discrepancy triggered tension inside the Justice Department. Bondi, according to people familiar with her reaction, believed she had been misled. Ultimately, the department abandoned the lawsuit in June 2025 and negotiated a settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise instead.
Beyond the merger dispute, friction between Slater and Bondi reportedly extended to other matters. Last year, Bondi denied Slater’s request to attend an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development conference in Paris. Slater attended anyway, prompting Bondi to revoke her government credit cards, according to sources.
Supporters of Slater described her as a principled antitrust enforcer wary of corporate consolidation and skeptical of political pressure. Critics, however, argued she pursued an agenda that did not align with the administration’s more business-friendly approach and accused her of prioritizing her own policy views.
Slater had initially entered the role with significant political strength. Previously a senior adviser to Vance, she was confirmed by the Senate with broad bipartisan support, earning 78 votes — one of the highest tallies among Trump appointees aside from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During her tenure, the antitrust division worked to speed up early-stage reviews of corporate mergers when competition concerns were minimal, an effort aimed at encouraging dealmaking. But the Hewlett Packard case and ongoing interpersonal tensions overshadowed those efforts.
Omeed Assefi, who previously served as acting head of the division at the start of Trump’s second term, is expected to take over on an interim basis.
In the end, Vance reportedly concluded he would not interfere with Bondi’s authority to manage her department. With his support gone and Bondi’s opposition firm, Slater’s position became untenable — marking the end of a turbulent chapter at the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
