US: Warren demands Delrahim recuse himself from Google, Apple Probes

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren called for the head of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division to recuse himself from working on any investigations of Alphabet’s Google or Apple because of his past lobbying for both companies.

Warren wrote to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who oversees the Antitrust Division, in a letter dated Tuesday, June 11, that his past work advocating on behalf of the tech giants would create the appearance of a conflict of interest as the agency oversees antitrust scrutiny of both companies. The Massachusetts senator sent a similar letter calling for Delrahim’s recusal to a Justice Department ethics official.

“As the head of the antitrust division at the DOJ, you should not be supervising investigations into former clients who paid you tens of thousands of dollars to lobby the federal government,” Warren’s letter said. “American consumers and markets deserve the confidence that the DOJ will conduct any antitrust investigation into Google or Apple with integrity, impartiality, and with the best interest of competitive markets and consumers in mind.”

Warren’s letter came days after the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission divvied up antitrust oversight of Google, Facebook.com, Amazon.com, and Apple.