President Donald Trump has nominated Adam Candeub, currently serving as general counsel at the FCC, to a senior position at the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Bloomberg reports that President Donald Trump has nominated Adam Candeub to serve as assistant attorney general at the DOJ, the White House announced. According to White House official Saurabh Sharma, Candeub will lead antitrust enforcement at the department.
The nomination will require confirmation by the Senate, a process that could take several months to complete. The DOJ currently lacks a Senate-confirmed antitrust chief. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the department’s third-ranking official, presently oversees the antitrust division.
Until last month, the antitrust division had been led by acting chief Omeed Assefi following the removal of Abigail Slater in February. The leadership transition represents part of broader changes within the department’s enforcement structure.
Candeub brings significant experience in telecommunications policy and regulatory affairs to the position. In 2020, he served as acting head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), where he led efforts to reinterpret legal protections for technology companies under the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
During his time at the telecommunications agency, Candeub and others argued that Section 230 of the 1996 CDA, which provides sweeping immunity to technology companies for content posted on their platforms, should not apply to decisions these companies make to remove or moderate content. This position placed him at the center of ongoing debates about tech platform regulation and content moderation policies.
The nomination comes as the DOJ has pulled back on antitrust enforcement during the Trump Administration, according to previous reporting. During his confirmation process to become Attorney General, Todd Blanche addressed criticism that the DOJ was not fighting aggressively enough in court to police anticompetitive conduct.
“The Antitrust Division in this Department of Justice has strived to achieve immediate results for the American people rather than subject our citizens to protracted litigation with uncertain results,” Blanche said in written responses to senators.
The antitrust division plays a critical role in enforcing federal competition laws and reviewing major corporate mergers and acquisitions. The position Candeub has been nominated for carries significant influence over how the government approaches competition policy, particularly regarding technology companies and other major industries.
Read more at Bloomberg here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.