She Was MAGA’s Antitrust Star — Then Her Relationship With Pam Bondi Imploded

Assistant Attorney General for antitrust Gail Slater announced on Thursday that she was leaving her post, bringing an end to a turbulent year in the role that saw her gradually fall out of favor with Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Slater, who gave no explanation for her departure, was lauded at the start of the administration as a tip of the spear for “MAGA antitrust” and the populist economics of Trump 2.0. Several Trump loyalists and populist MAGA allies expressed disappointment at the announcement. But sources told the Caller that it didn’t take long for her relationship with Bondi, and her deputy, Todd Blanche, to deteriorate. (RELATED: Gail Slater Seemingly Fires Chief Of Staff On X, But Mysteriously Deletes)

One source familiar with the situation told the Caller that there were three big reasons for Slater’s ousting: an unauthorized trip to Paris, allegedly lying to Bondi about a controversial merger, and leaks to the press about divisions within the antitrust team at DOJ.

Slater was given a decision earlier this week to resign or be fired from the Department of Justice, the same source told the Caller. A different source with knowledge of the firing said President Trump makes the final call on those who are confirmed by the Senate.

That source, as well as a senior Trump administration official, said many within DOJ believed Slater was undermining pending cases because she was on rocky terms with Bondi. Slater was disobeying requests from Bondi, and went on a pricy trip to Europe despite being told not to, the administration official told the Caller.

The unapproved trip to Paris for a conference resulted in Bondi cutting off her credit cards, two sources told the Caller.

It is with great sadness and abiding hope that I leave my role as AAG for Antitrust today. It was indeed the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role. Huge thanks to all who supported me this past year, most especially the men and women of @justiceatr

— Gail Slater (@gailaslater) February 12, 2026

The second reason for Slater’s firing was her handling of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise merger case with Juniper Networks last summer, one source familiar with the matter told the Caller. Slater lied to the attorney general about the HPE case, assuring her she’d consulted the intelligence community about potential concerns they had about the deal, when she actually had not, the source alleged.

At that time, two of Slater’s top deputies were fired over the handling of the HPE settlement, which was negotiated directly by Bondi’s office. Slater’s allies have continued to argue that Trump-friendly lobbyists advocating for HPE helped secure the merger and led to the ouster of her deputies.

The final straw was that Slater was suspected of leaking, specifically to the media outlet Semafor, which recently published stories about the tensions in her division. West Wing suspicions that Slater was the leak were the final straw, one source said.

On Friday, Slater seemingly fired her chief of staff on X, but then was later overruled by Bondi, Semafor reported.

The decline in Slater’s relationship with her bosses began soon after she was confirmed, in March of 2025. An administration official told the Caller that while there were missteps by Slater, the decision to remove her had more to do with the current ineffectiveness of the antitrust division and the desire to get more out of the agency.

“This is a bureaucratic agency of 115,000 people, and over 10,000 of which are lawyers. When we say to our people the President has an agenda, go and execute on this, we need to trust that that is going to be done, and that has not been happening this past year,” the official said. “We can’t take another year to figure out how to get to a place where we’re all in agreement on what that looks like. We don’t have time. We have to go now.”

Another administration official told the Caller that the decision to remove Slater had to do with being able to execute the president’s agenda during his term.

“This is about meeting the agenda on economic prosperity and affordability today, not in 4 years,” the official told the Caller.

Semafor reported that under Slater’s leadership, mergers which have been “challenged or investigated” by the antitrust division of DOJ have ended favorably for the companies who have lobbied to other Trump officials.

Slater reportedly did not get any sort of life preserver from Vice President JD Vance, for whom she served as an economic advisor during his time in the Senate.

One source familiar with the vice president’s thinking said he was aware of the tense situation at DOJ with Slater, with a second source confirming he chose to stay out of the messy situation.