Oct 15 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. states said they may

seek to block Hewlett-Packard Enterprise's ( HPE ) $14 billion

acquisition of Juniper Networks and have asked a judge for

permission to intervene in a case where the U.S. Department of

Justice has proposed to settle and let the deal move forward.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Democratic

attorneys general from six other states and Washington, D.C.

said in court papers on Tuesday that they want to probe what

they called suspicious circumstances around the settlement.

"The public deserves transparency on what happened in this

case and to ensure that high-ranking government officials follow

the law during merger reviews, make decisions on the merits and

are not influenced by politically connected lobbyists," Weiser

said.

Weiser, who was a DOJ antitrust attorney earlier in his

career, is running for governor of Colorado in 2026.

If U.S. District Judge Casey Pitts in San Jose, California

allows the states to intervene, they could seek an order for the

companies to pause integrating their businesses.

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January,

the DOJ sued to block the deal, alleging it would stifle

competition and lead to only two companies - Cisco Systems ( CSCO )

and HPE - controlling more than 70% of the U.S. market

for networking equipment.

The DOJ agreed to drop its claims in June ahead of a

scheduled trial in exchange for HPE agreeing to license some of

Juniper's AI technology to competitors and sell off a unit that

caters to small and mid-sized businesses.

Last month, Colorado was among a group of states that called

on Pitts to probe whether the deal addressed the DOJ's initial

concerns about the deal and what role lobbyists with ties to the

Trump administration played in the settlement.