{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-cotton-colleagues-to-doj-and-ftc-systemic-weaponized-leaks-violate-ethics-rules/", "Ricketts, Cotton, Colleagues to DOJ and FTC: Systemic, Weaponized Leaks Violate Ethics Rules", "2024-10-24", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Pete Ricketts", "R000618", "www.ricketts.senate.gov", "ricketts", "https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/?jsf=jet-engine:press-list&pagenum=", "scraper", "October 24, 2024\n\nOMAHA, NE \u2014 Today, Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) joined Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and three colleagues to demand an investigation into systemic media leaks at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These leaks, all to the same media outlet, resulted in negative headlines about the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s antitrust targets and potentially violated ethics rules.\n\n\u201cThese leaks result in negative headlines about the administration\u2019s targets while the targeted companies have no way to respond, as they haven\u2019t yet seen the potential lawsuits,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cBoth DOJ and FTC have ethics rules that prohibit leaking civil cases before the cases are filed.\u201d\n\nThe letter was sent to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Federal Trade Commissioner Inspector General Andrew Katsaros. In addition to Senators Ricketts and Cotton, the letter was signed by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA).\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nOctober 24, 2024\n\nThe Honorable Michael Horowitz\n\nUnited States Department of Justice\n\nOffice of the Inspector General\n\n950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\n\nWashington, DC 20530\n\nMr. Andrew Katsaros Inspector General\n\nFederal Trade Commission\n\n600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\n\nWashington, DC 20580\n\nDear Inspectors General Horowitz and Katsaros,\n\nWe write asking you to investigate whether the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have violated their own ethics rules by systematically leaking potential antitrust cases to a specific media outlet.\n\nSince 2023, Bloomberg News has broken the news in at least twelve instances that DOJ or FTC was \u201cpreparing\u201d or \u201cpoised\u201d to take legal action before a lawsuit was filed. Indeed, the same journalist reported on eleven of these cases. This pattern strongly suggests that certain officials at DOJ and FTC are intentionally publicizing legal action days or weeks before filing.\n\nThese leaks result in negative headlines about the administration\u2019s targets while the targeted companies have no way to respond, as they haven\u2019t yet seen the potential lawsuits. Both DOJ and FTC have ethics rules that prohibit leaking civil cases before the cases are filed.[*]\n\nBloomberg News reporting DOJ and FTC antitrust actions before the filing of a lawsuit\n\nJanuary 23, 2023: DOJ Poised to Sue Google Over Digital Ad Market Dominance\n\nFebruary 23, 2023: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe\u2019s $20 Billion Figma Deal\n\nMay 15, 2023: Amgen\u2019s $28 Billion Horizon Deal Faces Unexpected FTC Hurdle\n\nJune 29, 2023: Lina Khan Is Coming for Amazon, Armed With an FTC Antitrust Suit\n\nOctober 16, 2023: Real Estate Brokers Pocketing Up to 6% in Fees Draw Antitrust Scrutiny\n\nFebruary 20, 2024: FTC, States to Sue Over Kroger-Albertsons Deal Next Week\n\nMarch 20, 2024: Justice Department to Sue Apple for Antitrust Violations\n\nApril 10, 2024: Nippon Steel Bid to Buy US Steel Gets Extended Antitrust Review\n\nApril 17, 2024: Tapestry\u2019s $8.5 Billion Capri Deal Faces Planned FTC Lawsuit\n\nMay 22, 2024: US Justice Department to Seek Breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster\n\nJuly 10, 2024: FTC Preparing Suit Against Drug Middlemen Over Insulin Rebates\n\nSeptember 23, 2024: Visa Faces Justice Department Antitrust Case on Debit Cards\n\nThese leaks aren\u2019t just unethical, but they harm these companies\u2019 employees, shareholders, and others. If the companies have engaged in wrongdoing, by all means the government should try them in a court of law. But the Biden-Harris administration shouldn\u2019t try them in the liberal media. These leaks appear to be simply one more instance of this administration weaponizing the administrative state against politically disfavored opponents and critics, much like DOJ investigating parents at school-board meetings or the FTC targeting Elon Musk and Twitter for insufficient censorship of conservatives.\n\nWe urge you to investigate promptly these systematic, unethical, and potentially illegal leaks.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:55:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-cotton-colleagues-to-doj-and-ftc-systemic-weaponized-leaks-violate-ethics-rules/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5383230056613684, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}