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Slater questioned at Senate hearing on Big Tech cases

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Nominee says she would advocate for adequate resources

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DOJ pursuing antitrust cases against multiple large

corporations

(Recasts headline, lead and bullets, adds details from hearing

in paragraphs 3-6, 8)

By Jody Godoy

Feb 12 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's pick to

oversee the U.S. Department of Justice's blockbuster antitrust

litigation against Apple ( AAPL ) and Alphabet's

Google told a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday that

resources will be a factor in pursuing the cases.

Gail Slater, a veteran antitrust attorney and economic

adviser to Vice President JD Vance, would lead the DOJ division

that enforces laws against illegal monopolies and

anticompetitive business behavior, if confirmed as assistant

attorney general of the antitrust division.

U.S. Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who leads the

antitrust subcommittee, asked Slater about her commitment to

continuing antitrust enforcement against Big Tech, which began

during Trump's first term, and continued under former President

Joe Biden.

Slater said she would work to get up to speed on the

DOJ's cases, while noting that they take a large amount of

resources to pursue.

"Resources are of course a very important consideration in

antitrust litigation, in taking cases further. It is very

complex civil litigation and costly so that will be a

consideration," Slater said.

If confirmed, Slater said she would advocate for adequate

resources for the division.

The DOJ sued Google for allegedly dominating online

advertising technology markets, and won a landmark ruling in

another case that found Google holds an illegal monopoly in

online search. Along with state attorneys general, the DOJ has

also accused Apple ( AAPL ), LiveNation and Visa of

maintaining illegal monopolies.

Slater said at the hearing that she is committed to

continuing to work with both Republican and Democratic state

attorneys general.

Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey who is the

ranking member on the Senate's antitrust committee, expressed

concern ahead of the hearing about how efforts by Tesla

CEO and Trump adviser Elon Musk to shrink the federal workforce

would affect the antitrust division's work.

"Any efforts by Musk and Trump to fire or push out federal

employees charged with enforcing our antitrust laws will hurt

Americans at a time when families are struggling to make ends

meet, pay their rents and mortgages, and buy groceries," Booker

said.

Slater has worked at Fox Corp ( FOXA ) and Roku ( ROKU ),

and represented Big Tech companies at a now-defunct trade group

called the Internet Association. She began her career at law

firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and spent 10 years at the

Federal Trade Commission.