US: Trump role in merger reviews to be target of House Panel: Bloomberg

A congressional antitrust panel plans to examine whether the White House improperly influenced merger oversight, including the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner, according to Bloomberg.

Democratic Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who is taking over as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, wants to examine what role, if any, President Donald Trump has played in some of the biggest mergers during his administration, said the person, who declined to identified.

Cicilline is stepping into the leadership role as economists and policy advocates are pushing for stepped-up antitrust enforcement to combat rising corporate consolidation across the economy.

Cicilline’s other priorities for the panel include examining the cost of prescription drugs, how mergers can reduce workers’ bargaining power, and the dominance of technology platforms like Google and Facebook, the person said.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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