Fired antitrust official Roger Alford testified before House Judiciary Democrats this week, attacking the Trump administration that stripped him of power while praising EU tech regulations and Democrat attorneys general such as Letitia James.
At a hearing this week before the House Judiciary Committee, fired antitrust official Roger Alford testified on behalf of House Judiciary Democrats, attacking President Trump and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, while praising the EU’s tech regulations, left-wing activist judges, and Democratic State Attorneys General.
In April, Alford became Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Gail Slater’s top deputy. In this role, he tried to prevent the Department from settling an antitrust case to block the HPE-Juniper network merger.
As Rep. Harriet Hegman (R-WY) explained at the hearing, “US national security interests against communist China owned Huawei that led to the HPE Juniper settlement.” As Breitbart reported at the time, many MAGA leaders including, including the late Charlie Kirk made this very argument.
Alford refused to bow to the pushback and was fired for insubordination after the deal was approved in July. Shortly after he was fired, Alford gave a speech defending “populist antitrust” at the St Regis Hotel in Aspen before the Big Tech and Big Hollywood-funded Technology Policy Institute. As Breitbart News reported, Alford would go on to criticize Trump’s FTC and DOJ for addressing top Republican concerns like DEI and corporate wokeness.
There, Alford portrayed himself and Slater as “genuine MAGA reformers” fighting corrupt “MAGA In Name Only” lobbyists and cronies. Alford claimed that he was only going after a few bad apples in the Trump administration and supported both the Trump White House and the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The journal of American Greatness would later expose Alford’s longstanding critique of Trump’s tough-on-China policies, as well as his support for Black Lives Matter. Alford has also been praised by Democrats for turning on the current administration – Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who led the impeachment efforts against Trump, introduced Alford, stating he was “grateful for your courage” in attacking the Trump Justice Department.
Alford’s written testimony claimed his opponents were “Anti-American Antitrust enforcement” officials who do not “align with the populist America First antitrust agenda as reflected in the leadership of Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater.” He portrays Slater as fighting against corrupt leadership: “AAG Gail Slater and her amazing team press on, reminding themselves daily of Sir Thomas More’s admonition: ‘You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds…. What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can.’”
Apart from Slater, he unleashed withering criticism against other members of the Trump Administration, stating: “It is not normal for Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to say that the DOJ is at war with the judiciary, or for former Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle to threaten judges with impeachment.” Alford also attacked President Trump for giving pardons to someone who Slater had charged without consulting her. Alford’s testimony claimed this was a violation of the rule of law, even though the Constitution solely vests the pardon power with the president.
Alford also praised the left-wing Biden-appointed Judge Casey Pitts and the “state AG’s efforts to hold the merging parties accountable for their corrupt process and their unlawful merger.” Every single State AG to intervene in this case is a Democrat, including Letitia James.
Additionally, Alford claimed that European Tech regulation has “very close parallels to exactly the same kinds of cases that are being brought in the United States by Republican uh administrations as well as Republican state attorneys general uh as well as private parties” and thus nothing to worry about.
Just earlier this week The EU fined Elon Musk’s X $140 million under its draconian Digital Services Act, for failing to open up the platform to the “disinformation researchers” who build censorship databases of disfavored speech and disfavored users. As Breitbart News reported, EU digital chief Henna Virkkunen noted the fine was meant to set a precedent to expedite more EU investigations under the DSA.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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