Former DOJ antitrust division official Roger Alford has criticized senior leadership for allowing politically connected lobbyists to influence decision-making. Alford, who served as principal deputy assistant attorney general, was fired last month amid internal divisions over the handling of the merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks. He described a battle within the DOJ’s antitrust division between “MAGA reformers and MAGA-in-name-only lobbyists,” stating that their loyalty is not to the president’s antitrust agenda or to rebuild confidence and integrity in the DOJ.
The dispute at the center of the dispute is the HPE-Juniper merger, which the Trump administration sued to block in January. The DOJ announced a proposed settlement in late June, allowing the merger to go forward as long as HPE divests its division for small and medium businesses and licenses Juniper’s software to competitors. Chad Mizelle, the chief of staff of Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Stanley Woodward, who are nominated to serve as associate attorney general, perverted justice and acted inconsistent with the rule of law.
Alford accused some at the DOJ and in the Trump administration of favoring parties and lobbyists considered as being on the “same MAGA team” while disfavoring “enemies of MAGA.” Companies are hiring lawyers and influence peddlers to bolster their MAGA credentials and pervert traditional law enforcement. A DOJ spokesperson dismissed Alford’s comments as the “delusional musings of a disgruntled ex,” arguing that the resolution of the HPE-Juniper merger was based on the “merits of the transaction” and national security concerns raised by the intelligence community.
