By Jody Godoy
June 25 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Adam Candeub, the general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission, to take over as the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, a source familiar with the matter confirmed on Thursday.
Trump met with Candeub, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and White House counsel David Warrington about the job this week, the source said.
A White House official declined to comment.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi currently leads the division, which shares federal antitrust authority with the FTC. Assefi has been planning to step down later this month, according to a source familiar with his plans.
During Candeub’s tenure at the FCC, the broadcast regulator has opened an investigation into Disney’s diversity practices and is probing whether ABC daytime talk show “The View” violated equal-time rules for interviews with political candidates.
Candeub authored the FTC chapter in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy platform, which laid out ways the consumer protection and antitrust agency could champion conservative causes.
A longtime professor at Michigan State University, Candeub served in the Commerce Department and Justice Department during Trump’s first term.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Mexico City; additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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