House Republicans interrogate FTC's Khan over ethics, antitrust issues
House Republicans who say the Federal Trade Commission has been overzealous and politicized under President Joe Biden are interrogating agency head Lina Khan
WASHINGTON — House Republicans who say the Federal Trade Commission has been overzealous and politicized under President Joe Biden are interrogating agency head Lina Khan, bringing her before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday for the first time amid her court battles with big technology companies.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has criticized Khan in recent months on a multitude of issues, including what he says are politically motivated actions directed at Elon Musk after he acquired Twitter last year, questions about whether she should have recused herself from certain cases and her legal actions against tech giants on antitrust issues. In April, the committee subpoenaed Khan after an investigation by the panel that concluded the FTC “harassed” Twitter in the wake of Musk’s acquisition.
In her opening statement, Khan defended her attempt to aggressively regulate the country's biggest tech companies.
“Our competition mission is driven by the tenet that vigorous antitrust enforcement is critical to the growth and dynamism of our economy, as well as to our shared prosperity and liberty,” she said. “Recent decades, however, have vividly illustrated how Americans lose out when markets become more consolidated and less competitive.”
The hearing comes as the agency has been embroiled in several legal cases against technology companies and as Khan — an outspoken critic of Big Tech before becoming the agency’s head — has tried, not always successfully, to toughen government regulation of those companies.
Khan and the agency suffered a major defeat Tuesday
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