DOJ’s Top Antitrust Lawyer Exits Weeks Before Live Nation Trial Set To Begin

The top attorney with the Department of Justice’s antitrust division left the department this week as reports swirled that Live Nation had been lobbying senior Justice Department leadership in an effort to find a settlement ahead of its antitrust trial due to begin March 2.

Gail Slater, the assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, announced her departure Feb. 12 after less than a year in the post, saying she leaves the department filled with “great sadness and abiding hope.” CNN and other outlets later reported she was forced out, despite the tone of her post on X suggesting she was leaving of her own accord.

The antitrust division has been at loggerheads with the broader leadership at Justice, sources told CNN, in part because Slater and her team sought to be aggressive against tech companies that are increasingly friendly with the Trump Administration. President Donald Trump himself had suggested he would be involved in assessing Netflix’s effort to buy Warner Brothers Discovery and HBO and a counteroffer by Paramount chief — and Trump ally — David Ellison. 

Relatedly, Semafor reported that Trumpworld figures including Kellyanne Conway, a former advisor to the president, have been advising Live Nation and engaging with DOJ officials, including Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche, on a path forward ahead of the looming LN trial. 

A spokesperson for the antitrust division told Semafor that the DOJ is still committed to the LN case, which was inherited from the Biden Administration. A Live Nation spokesperson offered no comment. 

The antitrust suit, which the current administration inherited from their predecessors in the Biden Administration, is set for trial in New York March 2. There’s increasing speculation that Slater’s departure could accelerate the possibility of a settlement before then. An out-and-out retreat by the Justice Department seems unlikely, given broad bipartisan — and popular — vitriol against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Short of the full break-up of Live Nation and Ticketmaster – which the government’s case seeks, officially — the settlement could include limits on exclusivity agreements, which Live Nation’s competitors have clamored for. Instead of spinning off Ticketmaster, the government could instead require Live Nation to spin off another segment of its business — its management arm seems to be most likely target under this scenario. The DOJ could also seek limits on how much LN uses user data to price and sell tickets.

In any event, even if the federal case is settled, 40 state attorneys-general joined the suit, so ostensibly even settling with the DOJ on the federal action wouldn’t necessarily end Live Nation’s litigation.