Republican FTC commissioner will resign, slams Democratic chair

The sole remaining Republican on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Tuesday she is resigning based on disagreements with how Democratic Chairwoman Lina Khan is leading the agency.

Commissioner Christine Wilson announced her plans in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal, laying out her reasons that focus on concerns she raised over the progressive chairwoman’s leadership in what Wilson called her “noisy exit.” 

“I have failed repeatedly to persuade Ms. Khan and her enablers to do the right thing, and I refuse to give their endeavor any further hint of legitimacy by remaining. Accordingly, I will soon resign as an FTC commissioner,” Wilson wrote. 

Wilson accused Khan of having a “disregard for the rule of law and due process” and said senior FTC officials “enable her.” 

In a joint statement, Khan and Democratic Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya said that “while we often disagreed with Commissioner Wilson, we respect her devotion to her beliefs and are grateful for her public service.”

“We wish her well in her next endeavor,” they added.

Khan, who previously served as counsel for the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee during the investigation into digital market competition, has put forward an aggressive agenda to use the agency’s power to rein in the power of the nation’s dominant tech companies.

Those attempts have not always been successful, including a recent lawsuit to block Meta, Facebook’s parent company, from acquiring VR company Within. That deal was allowed to proceed after a court ruling against the FTC. Wilson had voted against the FTC’s lawsuit to block the acquisition.

Wilson’s announcement of her resignation follows GOP Commissioner Noah Phillips’s resignation last year. 

The openings leave President Biden with the opportunity to nominate two new commissioners, although the rules limit the agency to no more than three commissioners of the same political party, ruling out his nomination of a Democrat.