FTC's Khan defends her record on "60 Minutes"
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Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan during her interview on CBS' "60 Minutes." Screenshot: CBS News/"60 Minutes"
Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, defended her agency's aggressive antitrust record in an interview on "60 Minutes" Sunday, and said she'd be honored to work in a Harris administration.
Driving the news: Khan, the youngest-ever chair of the FTC, has had an historically aggressive run that could be soon coming to an end if former President Trump wins the presidency or if Vice President Kamala Harris decides to appoint another Democrat to head the agency.
- Khan is popular with several conservatives who agree with her antitrust cases against Big Tech companies, but Trump would surely install a Republican to lead the agency.
Between the lines: It's not uncommon for same-party presidents to switch out agency heads.
- Though Harris has been under some pressure from business-minded donors to dump Khan, the candidate's messages on lowering prices for the middle class and fighting consolidation align with many of Khan's own goals.
- Harris has not publicly said whether she'd keep Khan on board.
What they're saying: "There's so much work to be done, and it's such an honor," Khan said when asked by CBS' Lesley Stahl if she'd want to stay on during a Harris administration. "And it would be an honor to have that opportunity to keep going."
- Khan brushed off the idea that her agency and the DOJ are out of control when it comes to antitrust action.
- "It's important to step back and keep all of this in context," she said. "Of all the thousands of deals that are proposed every year, the FTC and DOJ collectively investigate maybe 2% or 3%."
On her massive Amazon case, which the company is fighting against and argues will raise prices for customers, Khan said:
- "Our investigation uncovered that Amazon's illegal practices were actually raising prices for consumers because it had illegally muscled out rivals, locked them out of the market in ways that if you had more competition that Amazon hadn't squashed, consumers would be even better off."
What to watch: Khan has every incentive to keep being ambitious until her time possibly runs out. A future chair could choose to drop or scale down the Amazon case and others.
Go deeper... FTC chair Khan: Stop monopolies before they happen
