She Was MAGA’s Antitrust Star — Then Her Relationship With Pam Bondi Imploded
Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Gail Slater announced Thursday that she is leaving her post, ending a turbulent year in the role that saw her gradually fall out of favor with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Slater, who offered no explanation for her departure, was hailed early in the administration as a spearhead of “MAGA antitrust” and populist economics of Trump 2.0. Several Trump loyalists and populist MAGA allies expressed disappointment with the announcement. But sources told Caller that it didn’t take long for his relationship with Bondi and his deputy, Todd Blanche, to deteriorate. (RELATED: Gail Slater Apparently Fires X’s Chief of Staff, But Mysteriously Deletes)
A source familiar with the matter told the Caller there were three main reasons for Slater’s ouster: an unauthorized trip to Paris, alleged lies to Bondi about a controversial merger, and leaks to the press about divisions within the DOJ’s antitrust team.
Slater received the decision earlier this week to resign or be fired from the Justice Department, the same source told The Caller. Another source with knowledge of the firing said President Trump made the final decision on those who were confirmed by the Senate.
That source, as well as a senior Trump administration official, said many in the DOJ believed Slater was undermining ongoing cases because she was on difficult terms with Bondi. Slater disobeyed Bondi’s requests and took an expensive trip to Europe despite being told not to, the administration official told the caller.
The unapproved trip to Paris for a conference led Bondi to cut off his credit cards, two sources told the Caller.
It is with great sadness and continued hope that I leave my role as AAG for Antitrust today. It was indeed the honor of my life to serve in this role. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past year, especially to the men and women of @justiceatr
– Gail Slater (@gailaslater) February 12, 2026
The second reason for Slater’s firing was his handling of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s merger with Juniper Networks last summer, a source familiar with the matter told The Caller. Slater lied to the attorney general about the HPE affair, assuring him that she had consulted with the intelligence community about possible concerns about the deal when she had not, the source claimed.
At that time, two of Slater’s most senior deputies had been fired over the handling of the HPE settlement, negotiated directly by Bondi’s office. Slater’s allies have continued to claim that pro-Trump, pro-HPE lobbyists helped secure the merger and led to the ouster of his deputies.
The final straw was that Slater was suspected of leaking information, including to the media outlet Semafor, which recently published articles on tensions within its division. West Wing’s suspicions that Slater was the leak was the final straw, a source said.
On Friday, Slater apparently fired her chief of staff on X, but was later overruled by Bondi, Semafor reported.
The decline in Slater’s relationship with her bosses began shortly after her confirmation, in March 2025. An administration official told the Caller that while Slater had made missteps, the decision to remove her had more to do with the antitrust division’s current ineffectiveness and a desire to get the most out of the agency.
“This is a bureaucratic agency of 115,000 people, more than 10,000 of whom are lawyers. When we tell our people the president has an agenda, go ahead and execute it, we have to have confidence that it’s going to get done, and that didn’t happen last year,” the official said. “We can’t take another year to figure out how to get to a point where we all agree on what that looks like. We don’t have time. We have to get there now.”
United States Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) speaks with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche following a ceremony with President Donald Trump and the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, winners of the 2025 Stanley Cup, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, January 15, 2026. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Another administration official told the caller that the decision to remove Slater was tied to the ability to execute the president’s agenda while in office.
“This is about meeting the agenda for economic prosperity and affordability today, not 4 years from now,” the official told the caller.
Semafor reported that under Slater’s leadership, mergers that were “challenged or investigated” by the DOJ’s antitrust division ended favorably for companies that lobbied other Trump officials.
Slater reportedly did not receive any sort of life preserver from Vice President JD Vance, for whom she served as an economic adviser during his tenure in the Senate.
A source familiar with the vice president’s thinking said he was aware of the tense situation at the DOJ with Slater, with a second source confirming he chose to stay out of the complicated situation.
