Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
DOJ Does MAGA Lobbyist Bidding Again, Shutters Another Antitrust Case
As criticism intensified over a controversial merger settlement and the MAGA lobbyists who helped deliver it, the Justice Department moved to dismiss a second merger challenge on Tuesday, in a case that once again appeared to involve lobbyists with close ties to the Trump White House and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
DOJ gave a notice of voluntary dismissal of its challenge to a $540 million merger between American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) and CWT Holdings, a case the Antitrust Division filed in mid-January at the end of the Biden administration. A trial had been scheduled for September. The merger brings together the two largest companies in the field of business travel management, and is the fifth large merger Amex GBT has pulled off since 2018.
According to three sources, the Justice Department deliberately dismissed the case rather than engage in a settlement. That avoids the Tunney Act, the 1974 law that allows the presiding judge to hold evidentiary hearings to assess whether the settlement meets the public interest and whether there was any untoward influence in the decision-making process. An earlier DOJ settlement in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise–Juniper Networks merger case could trigger a Tunney Act proceeding, which several anti-monopoly Democrats are demanding.
If DOJ had settled, the case would have reached the desk of Judge Jed Rakoff, the irascible veteran jurist who railed against unfairness and corruption in the justice system in his 2021 book Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System. But the voluntary dismissal means that Judge Rakoff does not have to approve the outcome for the case to end.
DOJ gave a notice of voluntary dismissal of its challenge to a $540 million merger between American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) and CWT Holdings, a case the Antitrust Division filed in mid-January at the end of the Biden administration. A trial had been scheduled for September. The merger brings together the two largest companies in the field of business travel management, and is the fifth large merger Amex GBT has pulled off since 2018.
According to three sources, the Justice Department deliberately dismissed the case rather than engage in a settlement. That avoids the Tunney Act, the 1974 law that allows the presiding judge to hold evidentiary hearings to assess whether the settlement meets the public interest and whether there was any untoward influence in the decision-making process. An earlier DOJ settlement in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise–Juniper Networks merger case could trigger a Tunney Act proceeding, which several anti-monopoly Democrats are demanding.
If DOJ had settled, the case would have reached the desk of Judge Jed Rakoff, the irascible veteran jurist who railed against unfairness and corruption in the justice system in his 2021 book Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System. But the voluntary dismissal means that Judge Rakoff does not have to approve the outcome for the case to end.
https://prospect.org/justice/2025-07-29-doj-maga-lobbyist-bidding-shutters-another-antitrust-case-bondi-ballard/]