Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Two DOGE staffers now have offices at the Federal Trade Commission, starting their work at the agency in the last week.
Why it matters: The DOGE efforts could hit the agency, which already has limited resources and funding, hard.
- Historically, the FTC has had a fraction of the money and lawyers of the giant corporations they challenge.
Driving the news: Gavin Kliger and Emily Bryant will be working "to root out waste, fraud and abuse at the FTC and trying to make it more efficient," FTC director of public affairs Joe Simonson told Axios.
- Their work will kick off with "looking for contracts or grants that are wasteful," Simonson said, adding that they are not looking at personnel "yet."
- Chair Andrew Ferguson "supports President Trump's agenda to improve government efficiency unequivocally," Simonson said.
DOGE staffers arrived at the FTC just a few weeks after Trump fired Democratic commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter, who are fighting their dismissal in court.
- Reuters reported in February that Kliger has "boosted white supremacists and misogynists online," including reposting content from white supremacist Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate.
- Kliger's LinkedIn lists his job as a "Special Adviser at OPM" from Jan. 2025 on.
- He's done stints at the IRS, the CFPB, USDA and USAID as part of his DOGE work, and was one of the first staffers to arrive at the IRS and attempt to dismantle the CFPB, per a roundup from the Revolving Door Project.
- Bryant's name appears on a FOIA of DOGE submitted by Reps. Jamie Raskin and Gerry Connolly.
What we're watching: A major antitrust case against Meta kicks off this month, a significant test for the FTC in Trump's second term.
- Mark Meador has not yet started as another Republican commissioner, so the agency only has two of five commissioners to vote out enforcement matters.
