Gail Slater Announces Exit as DOJ Antitrust Chief Effective Immediately; CNN Sources Say She Was Forced Out

On Feb. 12, 2026, Gail Slater, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, announced on X that she was leaving the role effective immediately: “It is with great sadness and abiding hope that I leave my role as AAG for Antitrust today.” Attorney General Pam Bondi’s statement thanked Slater “for her service to the Antitrust Division.” The sources characterize the departure differently. Slater’s own post describes a departure, and Global Competition Review wrote that “Gail Slater has left her position as chief of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division.” CNN, citing people familiar with the matter, reported she “was forced out by the Trump administration this week” after months at odds with Bondi and the West Wing. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement that the ouster “looks like corruption.”

The exit sits inside a documented pattern of friction between the division’s leadership and the Justice Department’s political layer: the HPE-Juniper settlement fight and the House hearing on pay-to-play, both covered in the related events linked from this entry. CNN also noted that in December Trump issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for Oak View Group co-founder Tim Leiweke, indicted in a case Slater’s division led. The division’s later activity is recorded in the related events as well.