Irish woman in line for top role in Donald Trump's administration
An Transition Who Antitrust Is Slater, Trump’s Gail Vance, To Aide Advising Vice Is Jd On Policy Elect Team President
An Irish woman who advised the first Trump White House on technology policy is in line for a significant role in the US President-elect's new administration.
Gail Slater, an alumna of the UCD School of Law, is an aide to Vice President-elect JD Vance and is advising Trump’s transition team on antitrust policy, including crafting a shortlist of candidates to serve as Federal Trade Commission chair, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Slater, 52, is also being considered for a top antitrust job.
Slater has a critical opportunity to shape competition policy following a watershed change in enforcement activity by the Biden administration, which set new records for merger enforcement and monopolisation cases. She’s also being tapped to advise the administration more broadly on tech and economic policy, which was reported earlier by Politico.
Biden’s FTC Chair Lina Khan, whose aggressive antitrust agenda made her a nemesis of big business, became a flashpoint during the election when a handful of billionaires called for her ouster. Khan is expected to leave in January.
Slater and Khan declined to comment. Trump’s transition team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The list of candidates that Slater is assembling for top antitrust positions, such as FTC chair, includes former Justice Department attorney Mark Meador. Also under consideration are George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law professor Todd Zywicki and Alex Okuliar, a partner at Morrison Foerster who helped lead the government’s antitrust investigation into Google under the first Trump administration, said some of the people.
Slater, holds degrees from UCD and Oxford University. She spent 10 years at the FTC, including as an adviser to former Democratic FTC Commissioner Julie Brill under the Obama administration.
Following her FTC stint, Slater joined the Internet Association, a now defunct trade group for internet companies whose members included Amazon.com and Google. She moved to the White House during the first Trump administration as a special assistant to the president for economic policy with a broad portfolio that included technology, telecom and cyber issues.
Slater was later hired by Fox and Roku. Earlier this year, she moved onto Vance’s staff, advising on antitrust and economic policy.
Several blockbuster cases are hanging in the balance. Trump’s antitrust enforcers started ongoing monopoly cases against technology platforms Google and Meta. More recently Biden-appointed officials brought major actions against Live Nation Entertainment’s Ticketmaster, Visa, Amazon.com and Apple.