Image: Laura Normand / The Verge
President-elect Donald Trump made two nominations Wednesday that will shape significant parts of his administration’s tech enforcement, if confirmed by the Senate.
Former Republican Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul Atkins is Trump’s pick to lead the agency, replacing Biden-appointed chair and crypto foil Gary Gensler. The selection of Atkins, who co-chairs the Token Alliance at the Digital Chamber, a group dedicated to the use of digital assets, suggests a sharp divergence from Biden-era crypto policy. In his announcement, Trump says Atkins “recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”
Trump also selected Gail Slater to lead the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, which is currently litigating two anti-monopoly suits against Google, and a third against Apple, as well as reportedly probing AI-chipmaker Nvidia. Slater has previously worked at the Federal Trade Commission, in Trump’s National Economic Counsel, and most recently as Vice President-elect JD Vance’s economic policy advisor in his Senate office. She’s also worked at Fox, Roku, and the now-defunct Internet Association, whose member included several Big Tech companies.
In his announcement on Truth Social, Trump writes that, “Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!” Trump is borrowing a favorite term of Marc Andreessen’s in with his reference to “Little Tech.” Andreessen — a venture capitalist and crypto supporter who publicly backed Trump in the election — has pushed for the recognition of a contrast between policies that benefit startups versus the largest tech players.
Slater has historically worked across the aisle, having served as an attorney advisor to former Democratic FTC Commissioner Julie Brill (who now works as Microsoft’s chief privacy officer). Her history working for Vance — who has publicly praised Biden’s FTC Chair Lina Khan for her aggressive approach toward tech — suggests Big Tech is likely to remain a key target of antitrust scrutiny in the years to come.
