Will Trump’s DOJ actually take on Ticketmaster?

Gail Slater, the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, resigned in February 2026 after less than a year in the role, just weeks before a landmark case to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster was scheduled to go to trial. Her departure came after Attorney General Pam Bondi reversed Slater's decision regarding her chief of staff and amid reports that the Antitrust Division had been repeatedly sidelined by DOJ leadership on major cases. Critics expressed concern that her resignation could clear the way for the Justice Department to settle the Ticketmaster case on terms favorable to the company rather than pursuing the breakup, as the antitrust experts had advocated.

The Antitrust Division experienced significant turmoil during Slater's leadership. In July 2025, two senior antitrust attorneys were fired following conflicts over the DOJ's approval of a merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, which Slater's division had opposed but higher-ups at Main Justice allowed to proceed. One of the terminated attorneys, Roger Alford, later delivered a speech accusing 'MAGA-In-Name-Only lobbyists' of interfering in the merger decision. Additionally, Slater's second-in-command, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mark Hamer, stepped down after less than a year. Reports indicate that the Antitrust Division's experts and attorneys were repeatedly sidelined by DOJ leadership on multiple cases, including the Compass-Anywhere real estate merger and discussions about settling the Ticketmaster case.