/ CBS/AP
Trump administration picks blitz Capitol Hill
President-elect Donald Trump made another flurry of job announcements on Tuesday, selecting Andrew Ferguson as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission. Ronald Johnson was nominated to be ambassador to Mexico and Kimberly Guilfoyle to be ambassador to Greece.
Trump was also expected to select Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta as ambassador to Italy, CBS News learned.
Ferguson, who is already one of the FTC’s five commissioners, will replace Lina Khan, who became a lightning rod for Wall Street and Silicon Valley by blocking billions of dollars worth of corporate acquisitions and suing Amazon and Meta while alleging anticompetitive behavior.
“Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History.”
Fertitta, meanwhile, the billionaire CEO of hospitality group Landry’s, Inc., is Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Italy, people familiar with the decision told CBS News Tuesday. Trump transition officials declined to comment.
Fertitta is a friend of Trump’s and longtime GOP donor who leads Landry’s Inc., a Texas-based corporation with hotels, restaurants and casinos. He starred in a reality TV show on CNBC called “Billion Dollar Buyer” and owns more than 600 properties in 36 states and in over 15 countries, according the company’s website, including the iconic Golden Nugget Casino, Morton’s The Steakhouse, the Palm Restaurant and Joe’s Crab Shack.
Fertitta joined Trump and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for a Starship rocket launch in Texas in November.
Tom Barrack was chosen as the nominee for ambassador to Turkey. Barrack, a wealthy financier, met Trump in the 1980s while helping negotiate Trump’s purchase of the renowned Plaza Hotel. He was charged with using his personal access to the former president to secretly promote the interests of the United Arab Emirates, but was acquitted of all counts at a federal trial in 2022.
Trump called him a “well-respected and experienced voice of reason.”
Johnson — not the Republican senator — served as ambassador to El Salvador during Trump’s first administration. His nomination comes as the president-elect has been threatening tariffs on Mexican imports and the mass deportation of migrants who have arrived to the U.S.-Mexico border. Johnson is also a former U.S. Army veteran and was in the Central Intelligence Agency.
Guilfoyle is a former California prosecutor and television news personality who led the fundraising for Trump’s 2020 campaign and became engaged to Don Jr. in 2020. Trump called her “a close friend and ally” and praised her “sharp intellect make her supremely qualified.” Guilfoyle was on stage with the family on election night.
“I am so proud of Kimberly. She loves America and she always has wanted to serve the country as an Ambassador. She will be an amazing leader for America First,” Don Jr. posted.
The ambassador positions must be approved by the U.S. Senate.
Guilfoyle said in a social media post that she was “honored to accept President Trump’s nomination to serve as the next Ambassador to Greece and I look forward to earning the support of the U.S. Senate.”
Trump also announced Tuesday that he had selected Jacob Helberg as the next undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, and Dan Bishop as deputy director for budget at the Office of Budget and Management.
The replacement of Khan at the FTC likely means that the commission will operate with a lighter touch when it comes to antitrust enforcement. The new chair is expected to appoint new directors of the FTC’s antitrust and consumer protection divisions.
“These changes likely will make the FTC more favorable to business than it has been in recent years, though the extent to which is to be determined,” wrote Anthony DiResta, a consumer protection attorney at Holland & Knight, in a recent analysis.
Deals that were blocked by the Biden administration could find new life with Trump in command.
For example, the new leadership could be more open to a proposed merger between the country’s two biggest supermarket chains, Kroger and Albertsons, which forged a $24.6 billion deal to combine in 2022. Two judges halted the merger Tuesday night.
The FTC had filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this year to block the merger, claiming the deal would eliminate competition, leading to higher prices and lower wages for workers. The two companies say a merger would help them lower prices and compete against bigger rivals like Walmart.
One of the judges said the FTC had shown it was likely to prevail in the administrative hearing.
Yet given the widespread public concern over high grocery prices, the Trump administration may not fully abandon the FTC’s efforts to block the deal, some experts have said.
And the FTC may continue to scrutinize Big Tech firms for any anticompetitive behavior. Many Republican politicians have accused firms such as Meta of censoring conservative views, and some officials in Trump’s orbit, most notably Vice President-elect JD Vance, have previously expressed support for Khan’s scrutiny of Big Tech firms.
Jennifer Jacobs contributed to this report.
