How Kamala Harris’ cozy ties to Big Tech could enable Google to walk away from an antitrust split

The Kamala Harris campaign’s cozy ties to Big Tech have sparked concerns that Google will be allowed to walk away from a proposed breakup of its search empire if she is elected president, The Post has learned.

Harris is close to Paul Weiss — the white-shoe law firm leading Google’s defense in another major antitrust case targeting its digital advertising business. Karen Dunn, the firm’s chief litigator, is assisting Harris with argument preparation. Likewise, the firm’s chairman Brad Karp is said to be running a “committee of lawyers for Kamala Harris” to raise money for her White House bid.

The former US senator from California is also leaning heavily on Eric Holder, who led the vetting of her potential nominees, and her brother-in-law Tony West, a Silicon Valley ally who stepped down from his role as chief legal officer to Uber to help her campaign. Both are reportedly on the short list of possible candidates for cabinet posts in a Harris administration.

“It’s definitely dramatic in terms of optics,” said Jeff Hauser, executive director at the Revolving Door Project. “It will be an opening moment for a Harris administration that may become clear even before it is inaugurated as to whether or not these numbers will be put in place for key White House or Justice Department jobs.”

The Justice Department is likely to pressure Google to dismantle it after Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the company has an illegal monopoly over Internet search. While Mehta will weigh possible solutions starting Sept. 6, the row will stretch far into the incoming president’s first term.

The risk of a win for Harris — who, as president, would have the power to appoint antitrust leaders to the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission — is that tech-friendly advisers could lobby behind the scenes for leniency on Google, worried experts said. for The Post.

“They could be relied upon [deputy attorney general] Lisa Monaco to settle,” one well-connected technology policy expert told The Post. “Say ‘OK, we’ve made our point, go get Google’s best offer, make sure it has 3 commas, and let’s call it a day.’ And nothing changes.”

While serving as attorney general in the tech-friendly Obama administration in 2010, Holder blocked then-DOJ antitrust chief Christine Varney from pursuing an investigation into Google’s search monopoly, a source close to the DOJ said. Instead, the FTC investigated and did not file charges.

A spokesman for Harris’ campaign declined to comment. Representatives for Paul Weiss, Eric Holder and the DOJ did not return requests for comment.

According to Bill Kovacic, the Republican-appointed chairman of the FTC from 2008 to 2009, Donald Trump — whose DOJ first brought an antitrust case targeting Google search in 2020 — has much more likely to require a meaningful blow to the company.

“I feel that Trump does not trust and does not like the technology sector more than she does,” said Kovacic. “Trump thinks all the tech leaders prevented him from winning in 2020. He may want to punish them by forcing a split.”

In recent interviews, Trump has referred to Google as “illegal”, said the company “should be careful” and claimed he had “a feeling that Google is about to be shut down”.

Makan Delrahim, the DOJ’s antitrust chief during the Trump administration, intended to pursue a Google breakup from the beginning, the source close to the DOJ said.

Harris has yet to clearly define her views on technology-related antitrust. In a speech Friday detailing her economic platform, Harris touted controversial plans to lower food prices and housing costs, but did not address whether she plans to crack down on Big Tech monopolies.

She has received donations from Google in the past and reportedly presented herself as an ally of the tech industry during a 2010 meeting with company employees.

Councilors opposed to a major antitrust push would not necessarily need cabinet positions to exert behind-the-scenes influence on antitrust matters, experts said.

A longtime Democratic operative, Dunn was once considered a candidate to serve as head of the DOJ’s antitrust division — a role that later went to current chief Jonathan Kanter. She also helped Attorney General Merrick Garland prepare for his Senate confirmation hearing in 2021.

In addition to her work for Google, Dunn has represented Apple and Uber in major court battles.

“Karen Dunn is being paid extravagantly by Google to let her off the hook — ideally via a slap on the wrist — so it’s troubling that she has so much access to VP Harris, Garland, Monaco and their teams,” a from Capitol Hill. said the veteran, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter.

Paul Weiss employees have contributed $1.46 million to Democrats this cycle — more than any other law firm, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets. The firm also employs many former DOJ Biden-Harris members.

However, a potential Harris administration would be limited in its ability to influence Google’s DOJ cases, even if it were inclined to take a friendlier approach to Big Tech.

Any attempt to interfere in the affairs of the DOJ could cause a severe public backlash from the progressive wing of the Democratic party, according to Hauser.

That was evident earlier this year when Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman sparked outrage by publicly calling on Harris to fire FTC Chair Lina Khan if she is elected.

“I can’t imagine a Harris administration having both the will and the backbone to do a ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ in the antitrust division,” Hauser said. “It would be ‘a-ha, big donors mean you do this.’ This is a catastrophic scandal that a new administration must endure.”

Google has already vowed to appeal the federal judge’s ruling in the search case, meaning any penalties arising from the search judgment are likely years away from being implemented.

Mehta determined that Google’s practice of paying billions of dollars to partners like Apple to ensure that its search engine was enabled by default on most smartphones had stifled competition.

DOJ lawyers may push Mehta to order Google to sell parts of its business, such as the Android operating system, Chrome web browser and AdWords advertising platform, Bloomberg reported. Other options include ending Google’s default agreements or forcing it to share data with rival search engines.

The DOJ’s separate major antitrust case targeting Google’s alleged monopoly over digital ad technology is also scheduled for trial this September — and another loss could similarly upend the company’s business model.