Warren grills Trump’s antitrust pick over antitrust and lobbying: report

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) grilled President Trump’s pick to head the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division during a meeting Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the discussion.

Warren put a “hold” on confirming Makan Delrahim last month, and it was not clear if her meeting with him on Wednesday convinced her to move forward with his nomination as an assistant attorney general.

In a Facebook post earlier this year, Warren said Delrahim’s nomination signaled that Trump will “put the interests of giant corporations ahead of the American people.”

{mosads}Delrahim, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Antitrust Division, previously lobbied for companies pursuing mergers as a lawyer at the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is responsible for overseeing and approving mergers between companies in order to promote business competition. 

According to Reuters, Warren asked Delrahim how he would respond to political interference from the White House on antitrust decisions. 

Delrahim said at his confirmation hearing earlier this year that he would not allow for political interference in the Justice Department’s antitrust decisions.