Latest news with #TexasAG
Politico
07-07-2025
- Business
- Politico
The Yellow Rose of antitrust
Presented by Editor's note: Morning Money is a free version of POLITICO Pro Financial Services morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 5:15 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. Quick Fix Ken Paxton's bid to unseat Sen. John Cornyn in a GOP primary is the latest chapter in a battle between pro-Trump upstarts and old-line Republicans for control of Washington. When it comes to antitrust policy, the powerful — and oft-embattled — Texas attorney general is already making his presence known. 'From an enforcement policy standpoint, what the Republicans were doing in Texas is now what the Republicans are doing in Washington,' said Michael Keely, who chairs the antitrust practice at the law firm Axinn, Veltrop and Harkrider. Texas law affords its state attorney general considerable authority when it comes to competition policy and consumer protection, and Paxton has taken a broad view on how those powers can be put to use to advance MAGA-friendly political priorities. The Texas AG was recently backed by Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson and Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Gail Slater in a lawsuit targeting large asset managers for allegedly disrupting coal production in their pursuit of environmental, social and governance initiatives. Paxton's investigation into alleged collusion among advertising firms was cited by the FTC chair in a recent decision allowing the ad giant Omnicom to purchase its rival Interpublic — so long as the firms swore off any future effort to steer ad dollars from publishers for political or ideological reasons. Notably, several Paxton alums are now in prominent roles at the White House National Economic Council (Paige Willey, Ryan Baasch), DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (Lanora Pettit), the Department of Homeland Security (Joseph Mazzara) and the upper echelons of Vice President JD Vance's policy shop (James Lloyd — the former head of the Texas AG's antitrust division). 'Personnel is often policy,' said Keely, who has written about how Paxton could become a driving force for antitrust policy in Trump 2.0. 'The people setting policy have done an interesting job — including the Texas people — of building up what I would consider to be an antitrust intellectual framework around issues that have been more associated with Trump's political' priorities, he added. Still, Paxton's playbook risks creating some political headaches for President Donald Trump's team. Paxton's efforts to police ESG initiatives at asset management firms, for instance, could limit resources for the very industries that the president has sought to elevate. The Texas AG's lawsuit against BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard over their coal holdings requested a court order that would require the investment companies 'to divest from coal or restrain them from limiting coal production or competition.' As the WSJ's editorial board said, it would be hard to boost coal production in the U.S. if three of the largest asset managers in the world were forced to unload their coal company shares. IT'S MONDAY — If you have thoughts on how the Trump administration is navigating antitrust and merger policy, I'd love to hear from you. And as always, send MM tips and pitches to me at ssutton@ Driving the Week MONDAY … TUESDAY … The NFIB's Small Business Optimism Index is out at 6:30 a.m. … House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions holds a hearing on 'Main Street or Mandates? How Dodd-Frank Closed the Door on Financial Opportunities' at 10 a.m. … The House Financial Services Task Force on Monetary Policy holds a hearing entitled 'Less Mandates. More Independence' at 2 p.m. … The Federal Reserve's report on consumer credit is out at 3 p.m. … WEDNESDAY … Senate Banking holds a hearing on 'From Wall Street to Web3: Building Tomorrow's Digital Asset Markets' at 10 a.m. … House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets holds a hearing on the costs and consequences of Dodd-Frank at 10 a.m. … The Chamber of Commerce holds a virtual discussion on 'Trade Wars and the Cost of Doing Business' at 1 p.m. … The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance holds a hearing on the housing shortage at 2 p.m. … The Federal Reserve meeting minutes for June will be released at 2 p.m. … THURSDAY … The Brookings Institution holds a discussion on 'Can Trump Bring Manufacturing Back to the U.S.?' at 10 a.m. … Fed Gov. Christopher Waller will speak at a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth event at 12:30 p.m. … The Bipartisan Policy Center holds a virtual discussion on the economic effects of rent regulation at 2 p.m. … FRIDAY … Treasury's monthly budget statement will be released at 2 p.m. … Deadline approaching? Maybe? — As the countdown to Trump's July 9 deadline to impose punishing 'reciprocal' tariffs on dozens of trading partners, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN's State of the Union that the new rates won't take effect until next month. 'If you don't move things along, then on Aug. 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level,' he said. — Trump isn't sweating that he has yet to deliver on major trade deals with just days to go, Daniel Desrochers and Megan Messerly report. 'We can do whatever we want,' the president said last week about Tuesday's deadline for countries to reach deals — or face punishing new tariffs. 'We could extend it, we could make it shorter. I'd like to make it shorter.' AWOL — As first reported in Playbook, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was supposed to join EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič on Thursday for a meeting as Europe negotiates a trade deal with the Trump administration, but Lutnick had already left town to go on vacation with his family in Italy, a person familiar with the matter told POLITICO's Daniel Lippman and Daniel Desrochers. Instead, Bessent said he was meeting with the EU as the deadline for Trump's pause on his so-called reciprocal tariffs is due to expire next Wednesday. Bessent canceled a family July 4 trip to Wimbledon and the Henley Royal Regatta to get Trump's tax and spending legislation across the finish line and work on trade deals, according to a person familiar with the matter. On Thursday, he also did five media appearances, including all three business networks. 'Secretary Lutnick met his wife and family for a July 4th trip,' a Commerce spokesperson said in a statement to Playbook. 'He has been on nonstop calls working for the American people and plans to be back in DC this weekend. President Trump's deal announcement with Vietnam earlier this week proves that Sec. Lutnick continues to level the playing field for the American worker.' A Treasury spokesperson declined to comment. At the White House Contradictions — Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law on July 4. The measure is chockablock with new tax breaks for 'venture capitalists, Alaskan fisheries, spaceports, private schools, rum makers and others,' reports Brian Faler. — While GOP heavyweights spent decades trying to simplify the tax code. Trump's signature piece of domestic policy legislation did the opposite, writes Victoria Guida. 'The result was a sprawling and quirky piece of legislation that is distinctively Trumpy: lower taxes and a bigger pile of tax breaks.' — ICYMI: The legislation allocates tens of billions of dollars for deportation and border patrol that hastens the decline in the size of the foreign-born workforce, the economy could slow. — The effects on health care could be profound, according to The WSJ's Dominique Mosbergen, Joseph Walker, Liz Essley Whyte and Josh Ulick: 'Millions of people will lose health-insurance coverage, and struggling hospitals across the country may have to close, lay off staff or shut down some services, they say. States will also face difficult budget choices as federal funds are reduced.' — White House officials say they are bullish on the economy's trajectory now that OBBB is law. 'It's the same combination of policies, tax cuts, deregulation, trade renegotiation, and energy abundance that gave us astounding economic growth in the president's first term, 2.8 percent until the pandemic,' Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran said on Sunday. 'And that's exactly what we forecast again, very similar numbers.' On The Hill The next big bill — The scheduled cuts to the social safety net imposed by OBB are setting the stage for massive political battles in 2026 and 2028, writes Benjamin Guggenheim. Zelle — From Katherine Hapgood: 'Democratic lawmakers in a letter released Thursday called on the banks that own Zelle to provide information on how they will monitor and handle social media scams on peer-to-peer payment platforms.' First in MM: Bipartisan legislation sanctioning Russia — House Financial Services members Reps. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) will introduce legislation today that would impose sanctions on Russia by restricting the opening or maintaining of correspondent or payable-through accounts by certain foreign financial institutions, Katherine Hapgood reports. The bill is expected to be marked up by the committee. 'As a combat veteran and former intelligence officer, I know that words alone will not bring the Russians to the table,' Nunn said. 'This bipartisan bill puts teeth behind our message, cutting off the financial lifelines that fund Putin's aggression without costing the taxpayer a cent.'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top Paxton deputy accused of witness tampering during impeachment trial
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's current and former top deputies are flinging shocking allegations at each other in court filings, from sexual harassment to falsifying documents and tampering with witnesses during Paxton's impeachment trial. While both sides go to great lengths to stress that Paxton was not involved in any of the alleged malfeasances, the infighting threatens to become an unwelcome sideshow to Paxton's bid for U.S. Senate. The latest filings accuse current First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster of 'obstructing justice, committing official oppression, and tampering with witnesses' while Paxton was facing impeachment in 2023. He was eventually acquitted by the Texas Senate. Former Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone and assistant attorney general Chris Hilton say Webster — Paxton's second-in-command — told them he 'would pressure potential witnesses to flee the State to evade being subpoenaed to disclose information harmful to Webster' during Senate proceedings. Stone and Hilton detailed these accusations in a lawsuit and State Bar of Texas complaint filed this week and first reported by the Houston Chronicle. These filings come just a month after a lawsuit was filed against Stone and Hilton alleging they were pushed out of the agency due to sexual harassment. That suit, filed by OAG employee Jordan Eskew, contained an email written by Webster, in which he says Stone admitted to the sexual harassment. Stone also told female employees he was a sociopath who had fantasized about raping Webster in front of his kids, Webster said in the email, dated December 2024. But Webster falsified that email to retroactively change why Stone and Hilton had left the agency, the two former employees now say, calling the allegations a 'loathsome lie with no basis in fact, concocted wholly with the intention of slandering Stone.' The lawsuit says this is part of Webster's ongoing campaign to discredit the two lawyers, including using the power of the attorney general's office to dissuade a potential major client from working with their firm. 'Texans should be disappointed to know that the person leading the Office of the Attorney General cares so little for the responsibility attendant to his office that he will stop at nothing to enrich himself and harm his personal enemies,' the lawsuit says. Stone and Hilton were among several agency employees who took leaves of absence to defend Paxton during the impeachment trial, which concluded in September 2023. The next month, The Texas Tribune reported they had permanently left the agency amid a disagreement over if and when they would return to work. Both sides cite support for their positions from Paxton himself. Webster says the attorney general immediately approved his request to terminate Stone and Hilton once the alleged sexual harassment came to light, but the new filings say Paxton opposed the release of Webster's email. 'On the recommendation of members of his staff who disagreed with Webster's actions, the Attorney General directed that OAG recall the email and rule that it was improperly released,' the lawsuit says. 'Webster, realizing that Stone and Hilton had obtained the Attorney General's support in rescinding the email, decided to foil the Attorney General's efforts. Eskew abruptly cut off negotiations and filed her meritless litigation against Plaintiffs.' The State Bar has 30 days to determine whether to investigate the complaint. There is no official timeline for either lawsuit to get resolved, meaning both sides could be sparring well into election season. Neither Webster nor the Office of the Attorney General immediately responded to a request for comment. Disclosure: State Bar of Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
