president donald trump fired Gail Slater, its top antitrust authority, on Thursday over concerns that she was not aggressively pursuing its affordability agenda, according to multiple sources.

Slater announced his departure on Thursday at X, saying he was leaving with “great sadness and abiding hope” and that it was “the honor of a lifetime to serve” in his role. But his ouster came as no surprise to those familiar with the antitrust division.

Slater, a policy adviser to Vice President JD Vance, left a string of controversies in her wake and, according to conversations Fox News Digital had with multiple sources, was considered too lax on the issue of accessibility in the eyes of Justice Department leadership, leading to her termination.

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Abigail Slater, Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division, speaks to members of the media outside federal court in Washington, DC, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

In a heated controversy, Slater opposed the DOJ in settling a lawsuit that would have blocked a merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks. But the attorney general Pam Bondi and national security officials wanted to move forward with the deal and overruled Slater, sources said. Sources said the row fractured Slater’s relationship with the leadership and became so contentious that it led to the sacking of two of his aides.

In November, as part of the administration’s broader push to lower costs for consumers, Trump accused “foreign-owned meatpacking cartels” of colluding to drive up beef prices, prompting the DOJ’s antitrust division to reopen a meatpacking case first brought under his previous administration.

The case centers on reducing the price of meat, but the antitrust division’s investigation has moved slowly under Slater, frustrating leadership, the sources said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi holds a news conference at the Department of Justice on Thursday, December 4, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Asked for comment on Slater’s departure, Bondi reiterated Trump’s antitrust priorities in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“On behalf of the Department of Justice, we thank Gail Slater for her service in the Antitrust Division, which works to protect consumers, promote affordability and expand economic opportunity,” Bondi said.

Other internal disputes have involved Slater’s decision to travel with staff to Paris, despite leadership objections, and the premature announcement of his chief of staff’s departure on social media before Bondi overruled Slater and extended the staff’s mandate.

Some of the criticism leveled at Slater’s approach to cost-cutting is in tension with the ideas he promoted outwardly. Slater said in November that the average American expenses on housing, transportation and food were “on top” and that his division had been working hard “to lower costs for American families.”

But one source summarized internal complaints with Slater, saying she was “unwilling” to coordinate and cooperate with DOJ leadership and did not prioritize Trump’s goals of “economic prosperity and affordability” with zeal.

Slater declined to comment for this story.

The antitrust division, which will now be headed by acting chief Omeed Aseffi, is known for handling high-profile civil litigation with big tech companies including Google, Apple and Meta, and is responsible for reviewing and approving large-scale corporate mergers.

In nominating Slater, a longtime antitrust lawyer, Trump touted his populist bona fides, noting his ties to Vance and his work on his National Economic Council. At the time, Trump praised her for being tough on big tech, in particular, saying she would go after so-called small tech companies and “Make America competitive again.”

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President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the antitrust division, Abigail Slater, testifies at a Senate hearing. (Fox News)

Some of Slater’s allies have indicated that during his time at the DOJ, he faced headwinds from lobbyists who say they are aligned with Trump but actually eschew a populist agenda.

Roger AlfordSlater’s former No. 2, said last year that he worked to “stay true to President Trump’s populist message that resonated with working-class Americans.”

“Antitrust enforcement that applies equal justice under the law can deliver tangible results for millions of Americans,” Alford said. “MAGA lobbyists and the DOJ officials who enable them are pursuing a different agenda.”

Slater has also leaned on former Democratic lobbyist and antitrust hawk Luther Lowe for outside advice, two sources said. Lowe has given at least $150,000 to Democrats and none to Republicans, according to public records. Luther denied advising Slater in a statement.

“I’ve known Gail Slater professionally for years, but I’ve never been an outside advisor to her in any capacity,” Luther said. “Any suggestion otherwise is false.”

Another point of contention has been Slater’s communication with Robert Barnes, a vehemently anti-Trump lawyer, two sources said. Mike Davis, a Trump ally who has welcomed Slater’s departure, also told Fox News Digital that he had reached out to Barnes.

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Slater had been welcomed to the antitrust division last March after garnering bipartisan support during the Senate nomination process and being confirmed 78-19.

President of the Judicial Committee of the Senate Chuck GrassleyR-Iowa, told X that he was “sorry to see her go” and that she was looking to rural America, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar, R-Iowa, also called Slater’s departure a “significant loss,” noting that Slater was at the helm when the DOJ won a historic court victory against Google.