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Within days of the deal announcement, Trump made clear he would handle it differently from his predecessors. Past presidents have seldom involved themselves in antitrust reviews involving mergers between companies. That’s in part because past Presidents normally separated themselves from decisions made by the Justice Department. Trump has made clear in his second term that the Justice Department answers to him.
Trump’s approach threatens to set “a terrible precedent,” says Diana Moss, former president of the American Antitrust Institute and current vice president at the Progressive Policy Institute. “White House interference in antitrust cases, whether it’s mergers or monopolization cases or other cases, really threatens at the very core due process and the rule of law,” Moss tells TIME.
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