Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Christine Wilson announced her resignation Tuesday in a Wall Street Journal column, saying she refuses to give Biden-appointed Chair Lina Khan\u2019s \u201cabuses of government power\u201d legitimacy by staying with the agency.
\nKhan\u2019s time as chair has sparked controversy since shortly after her appointment in June 2021, when Republicans began voicing concern about her alleged exclusion of Republican colleagues from aspects of antitrust enforcement. Wilson, prior to penning her resignation in the WSJ, was among those critical of Khan\u2019s approach and testified before the Senate in September 2021, accusing Khan of tearing down \u201cthe FTC\u2019s rich bipartisan tradition.\u201d
\nWilson wrote in her column that pushing back on Khan\u2019s abuses became difficult because she \u201cconsolidated power within the Office of the Chairman\u201d and was enabled by \u201csenior FTC officials.\u201d
\nWilson pointed to Khan\u2019s actions in the FTC\u2019s challenge to Meta\u2019s acquisition of virtual-reality gaming company Within.
\n\u201cBefore joining the FTC, Ms. Khan argued that Meta should be blocked from making any future acquisitions and wrote a report on the same issues as a congressional staffer,\u201d she said. \u201cShe would now sit as a purportedly impartial judge and decide whether Meta can acquire Within. Spurning due-process considerations and federal ethics obligations, my Democratic colleagues on the commission affirmed Ms. Khan\u2019s decision not to recuse herself.\u201d
\nWilson notes in her column that the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey showed 87% of surveyed FTC employees \u201cagreed that senior agency officials maintain high standards of honesty and integrity\u201d under Trump appointees in 2020, while only 49% do today. She said their discomfort is rooted less in policy than in the means Khan uses to accomplish her agenda.
\n\u201cI disagree with Ms. Khan\u2019s policy goals but understand that elections have consequences,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cMy fundamental concern with her leadership of the commission pertains to her willful disregard of congressionally imposed limits on agency jurisdiction, her defiance of legal precedent, and her abuse of power to achieve desired outcomes.\u201d
\nIn its response, the FTC did not address accusations against Khan.
\n\u201cWhile we often disagreed with Commissioner Wilson, we respect her devotion to her beliefs and are grateful for her public service,\u201d the FTC responded in a statement\u2002Tuesday. \u201cWe wish her well in her next endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dailycaller<\/p>\n
Tags : ftc lina khan resignation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Christine Wilson announced her resignation Tuesday in a Wall Street Journal column, saying she refuses to give Biden-appointed Chair Lina Khan\u2019s \u201cabuses of government power\u201d legitimacy by staying with the agency. Khan\u2019s time as chair has sparked controversy since shortly after her appointment in June 2021, when Republicans began voicing concern about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[2443,2445,2444],"class_list":["post-5821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-chair","tag-commissioner","tag-ftc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5823,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5821\/revisions\/5823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}