Woodward, the associate attorney general who now directly oversees antitrust enforcement, made his most recent remarks to lawyers in the department’s Chicago office, according to people familiar with the exchanges. He has also expressed similar views in other internal settings. Some attorneys said they understood the comments as a directive to resolve the department’s active litigation against companies and to avoid initiating new cases.
A Justice Department spokeswoman disputed that characterization, saying Woodward has not discouraged enforcers from litigating. She said he reminded staff that settlements can produce results sooner than litigation, but did not impose a settlement-only mandate.
Woodward’s influence over antitrust has grown following a series of upheavals at the division. In February, President Trump’s nominee to run the antitrust division, Gail Slater, left her post after about a year. MSI previously reported that Slater’s departure followed disputes over whether to greenlight major mergers. Woodward has since taken a hands-on role in antitrust investigations, a level of involvement that people familiar with the matter said is unusual for someone of his rank.
Before joining the department last year, Woodward represented defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He has told other Justice Department lawyers that he considers himself a defense lawyer and is skeptical of the department’s enforcement actions, according to people familiar with the matter.
The department has sued to block only one merger since Trump returned to office in January 2025 — the Hewlett Packard Enterprise deal to buy Juniper Networks. The DOJ is trying to settle that case, although Trump-aligned lawyers’ involvement in the deal has drawn opposition from states challenging the resolution.
The department’s senior leadership earlier this month closed an antitrust investigation into Paramount’s $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who had concerns about the deal could formally object, the Journal reported. The Justice Department said it conducted a thorough investigation and concluded the deal would likely be good for competition.
The Trump administration’s previous top antitrust enforcer, Omeed Assefi, hung a sign outside a conference room noting that the division in its 2025 fiscal year “approved 99.5% of all mergers submitted to DOJ.” Assefi said in a May speech that federal enforcers were “willing and excited to litigate” if they could not reach a settlement that resolved competitive concerns.
Roger Alford, who served as Slater’s top deputy, made a scathing speech last summer about the department’s direction. “Companies are hiring lawyers and influence peddlers to bolster their MAGA credentials and pervert traditional law enforcement,” Alford said. “The cost to the country of this new pay-to-play approach to antitrust enforcement is enormous.”
The department has said it gives priority to antitrust enforcement in healthcare, agriculture and energy. It has been investigating whether major egg producers coordinated on pricing and probing whether meatpackers colluded to drive up beef prices. Trump this week called on the department to investigate whether oil companies are gouging consumers on gasoline prices.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department is actively battling Apple and Visa in federal court over monopolization claims. Woodward’s settlement-oriented posture could affect the trajectory of those cases.