FTC’s Staffers Announced A “Moratorium On Public Events”

The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) chief of staff ordered the agency’s staff to cancel all public appearances, according to internal agency emails viewed by Politico.

In a June 22 email to more than two dozen of the FTC’s top staffers, Khan’s chief of staff, Jen Howard, announced a “moratorium on public events and press outreach.”

“For the time being I am putting a moratorium on staff participating in external events,” Howard wrote. The message was sent to the head of the FTC’s major offices, including those who oversee all of the agency’s economics, antitrust lawyers, and consumer protection attorneys.

According to Politico, in a follow-up message two days later, Howard wrote that any staff who were scheduled for public events should cancel those appearances. 

“I want to make clear that for any situations where staff are currently scheduled to do a public event and thus need to contact event organizers to withdraw their participation, the message they should convey is that they are sorry they can no longer participate due to pressing matters at the FTC,” she wrote.

An FTC spokesperson confirmed to Politico that the agency has called off all staff public appearances for the time being.