Google Banks on Trump Nominating Ohlhausen for FTC Chair

Interim Federal Trade Commission chair (FTC) Maureen Ohlhausen became the leading contender to lead the consumer regulatory agency.

As an FTC Commissioner in 2013, Ohlhausen voted to close a 2013 investigation into Google’s alleged monopolistic practices.

“It is pretty hard for her to be seen as anti-Google at this point,” said an industry source.

White House adviser and venture capitalist Peter Thiel wrote in his 2014 book Zero to One that Google is a monopoly.

Google, which had close ties to the Obama White House, so far has been able to escape antitrust charges but faces increasing risk of an antitrust investigation under a future FTC Chairman. Google enjoys roughly 80 percent market share of the internet search market.

President Donald Trump would have an easier confirmation process for Ohlhausen because the Senate already confirmed her. However, none of the previous four acting FTC chiefs have been elevated to continue as the permanent chairman.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes remains a competitor to Ohlhausen for the FTC chairmanship. Last year, Reyes called for the FTC to reopen an antitrust investigation of Google. In 2016, the Utah attorney general joined D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, writing to then-FTC chair Edith Ramirez that the Google antitrust investigation should be reopened in light of antitrust accusations from the European Union and India that Google manipulated search results to benefit itself at the expense of consumers.

Seth Bloom, an antitrust attorney at Bloom Strategic Counsel LLC, told Bloomberg BNA, “His appointment might be encouraging to people who want to see stronger antitrust enforcement than you’d normally expect in a Republican administration.”

Attorney General Reyes, a conservative and a Trump supporter, would serve as one way for President Donald Trump to continue his promise to “drain the swamp,” according to Carl Hittinger, an anitrust lawyer at Baker and Hostetler LLP.

“I think Trump is looking, in many of his appointments, for people who are new and different, who will bring a fresh outlook to the position,” Hittinger said.

Washington insiders prefer Ohlhausen to Reyes, although the White House remains ambiguous as to whether President Trump will confirm Ohlhausen as a permanent chair of the FTC.

Stephen Calkins, an antitrust law professor at Wayne State University and a former general counsel at the FTC, said, “What we do know is that if they were sure they had the right person at the FTC already, she would be the real chair today. They’re not sure either because they’re attracted to an alternative, or because they have reservations about her, or both.”