Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, has written a letter to President Joe Biden, joining with progressives in urging him not to appoint a former technology adviser to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
Reports emerged recently that one of the frontrunners to head the DOJ antitrust division is Renata Hesse, a former adviser to Google and Amazon, where she helped the company complete their acquisition of Whole Foods for about $13 billion.
“While I do not doubt Ms. Hesse’s acumen as a lawyer, I am deeply concerned her experience fighting for Big Tech’s ability to exercise market dominance to engage in massive acquisitions and anti-competitive practices will undermine her ability to neutrally oversee DOJ’s enforcement of antitrust laws,” Van Duyne wrote in the letter on Thursday, which was obtained by The Hill.
A group of progressive organizations recently signed a similar letter to Biden opposing Hesse’s appointment over her ties to tech companies.
The congresswoman went on to note the particular importance that technology companies have when it comes to matters of free speech and influence over politics.
“It is important, now more than ever, that the individual at the helm of the DOJ’s antitrust division be diligent in pursuit of protecting free speech, enforcing antitrust laws to address the ballooning influence of Big Tech, and neutrally addressing the anti-competitive practices that have led Big Tech companies, like Google, Apple, Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook, to amass the influence they now hold over society,” Van Duyne wrote. “Unfortunately, I do not believe that person to be Ms. Hesse.”
The White House did not comment to The Hill on the letter.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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