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When Democratic billionaires blasted antitrust regulator Lina Khan this fall, Kamala Harris never came to her defense. Now we might know one reason why: At the time, Khan’s agency was investigating Uber, which employs Harris’ brother-in-law and top adviser. Also: Rock the boat.
Harris Stayed Silent On Khan Amid Probe Of Top Adviser's Firm
By Name
 Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan is juxtaposed with Vice President Kamala Harris (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin and Saul Loeb) [View in browser] When Democratic donors attacked the Biden-Harris administration’s chief antitrust regulator Lina Khan during this year’s election, Vice President Kamala Harris declined to defend her, prompting some critics to say Harris was abandoning a populist message during a heated campaign. At the time, the public did not know what was just revealed: Khan’s agency had launched a probe of the rideshare giant employing Harris’s brother-in-law and top adviser, who helped craft the Democratic campaign’s economic pitch to voters and big donors. Last week, Bloomberg revealed that the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year opened a probe into Uber’s subscription service, looking at whether the rideshare company had violated consumer protection laws. Tony West, Harris’ brother-in-law, is the senior vice president and chief legal officer for Uber, the tech company that offers on-demand taxi rides and other services. During Harris’s presidential bid, West took a temporary leave of absence from the company and reportedly shaped the Harris campaign’s economic policy and messaging. One Biden aide told The Atlantic “that Harris steered away from hard-edged messaging at the urging of her brother-in-law, Tony West.”
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The FTC’s new probe of Uber is the latest strike by Khan against Big Tech. Under Khan’s leadership, the Federal Trade Commission has taken on Amazon, Meta, and Google and promised that gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft would come under scrutiny. Khan’s approach to the position has helped launch a new chapter of antitrust enforcement, winning her praise from antimonopoly and consumer protection advocates and even some Republicans skeptical of big business. But it has also made her many enemies in corporate America. “It’s nearly impossible to be a key lawyer to the oligarchs without becoming captured by the oligarchs’ worldview,” said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the government watchdog group Revolving Door Project. “As West was able to become a full-time Harris campaign principal, the campaign’s message switched to pablum. I think West played a key role in that tragic transformation from populist to milquetoast.” The Revolving Door Project asserts that President Biden could right now renominate Khan to a new seven-year term as a commissioner, but he has so far declined to do so. Trump will have the ability to select a new chair and will likely select one of the two Republican commissioners to chair the agency once he is sworn into office. Billionaires On The AttackIn July, just days after President Joe Biden dropped out and Harris began campaigning, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn, openly called for Khan’s removal while also backing Harris. Hoffman donated millions to Democrats this election cycle, including $6 million to Future Forward, a super PAC that supported both the Biden and Harris campaigns, and worked to rally Silicon Valley leaders behind the vice president. Hoffman has a personal stake in Khan’s fate: In 2016, Hoffman sold LinkedIn to Microsoft for more than $26 billion and has since taken a position on Microsoft’s board of directors. Microsoft is facing a Federal Trade Commission probe for acquiring another Hoffman-founded company, Inflection AI. Hoffman’s attack on Khan was followed by a similar reproach from media executive Barry Diller, also a Harris supporter whose companies were also reportedly facing an FTC investigation. Meanwhile, the Harris campaign’s billionaire surrogate Mark Cuban said Khan was “hurting more than she’s helping.” Cuban walked those comments back a few weeks later. Although Khan was a Biden appointee — and a major pillar of his legacy — Harris refused to defend her against attacks from Hoffman, Diller, and others. Her campaign paid no lip service to Khan’s wins against corporate America, and Harris never appeared with her, despite Khan campaigning with downballot Democrats. Some critics felt this was a mistake; recent polling data indicate that antitrust actions, including taking on Big Tech or Big Pharma, are popular across the aisle, and they certainly are among the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. Now, the news of the Federal Trade Commission’s Uber probe raises questions about Harris’s abandonment of Khan and whether President Joe Biden will take steps to reappoint Khan to the agency, allowing her to potentially serve under President-elect Donald Trump.
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A Corporate-Tied ConsiglieriBefore becoming Uber’s top lawyer, West made his career in the Justice Department, working his way up to associate attorney general. In 2014, he departed public service for the private sector. West first took a job with soda giant PepsiCo, working as its vice president of government affairs and general counsel. In 2017, he left PepsiCo to become Uber’s general counsel. By 2020, he was making $12.3 million in annual compensation at the company. When Harris announced her presidential bid, West took leave from his role at Uber to serve as her campaign adviser, reportedly becoming one of her strongest influences and most important confidants. “He should never have been brought into the campaign, especially given the tension between [Democrats] and labor [advocates],” said Hal Singer, a professor of economics at the University of Utah. “[Harris] needed to forcefully articulate how she was going to assist labor, including misclassified workers. That couldn’t happen with Tony at the helm of policy. That Uber was under investigation by the FTC just makes the conflict worse.” West brought with him close ties to Silicon Valley. As campaign adviser, West participated in fundraisers with a number of billionaires who have called for Khan to be ousted from a potential Harris administration, including Hoffman and Cuban — all while Harris’s campaign adopted pro-business talking points to court Wall Street. At the same time, it’s now clear that Federal Trade Commission investigators were looking into Uber One. The rideshare company has been in the crosshairs of the Federal Trade Commission before, reaching a $20 million settlement with the agency over allegedly misleading drivers about their wages in 2018, before Khan’s tenure. The agency has since brought a similar claim against rival rideshare company Lyft. Uber has spent more than $4.3 million since January 2023 lobbying Congress and regulators on “issues related to worker classification and possible anticompetitive activities that could limit consumers access to app-based technologies,” among other issues, disclosures show. In November 2021, Uber launched Uber One, a consumer-facing subscription service that allows app users to pay a monthly membership fee in exchange for rideshare and food delivery perks. While federal regulators have not brought any action yet as a result of the investigation, Bloomberg’s report indicates that the agency’s probe stems from customer complaints about being enrolled in Uber One without their consent and how difficult it is to cancel the subscription. Early settlement talks between the Federal Trade Commission and Uber’s lawyers, according to Bloomberg, had so far been unsuccessful. “It’s unsurprising that West’s Uber was being investigated by the FTC, because I think there has never been a day in the life of Uber in which it wasn’t bending or breaking the law in pursuit of growth or profit,” Hauser said. “Oligarchs can sincerely advocate for right-wing populism on social issues, but it is nearly impossible for them to identify with working people on economic issues.” Khan’s term technically expired in September, but she has continued to head the agency. If reappointed and confirmed to the role before Biden leaves office in January, Khan could remain a commissioner for the next seven years. Trump could try to remove Khan, but Hauser said the move would likely trigger a legal battle over a 1935 Supreme Court precedent that restricts a president’s ability to fire the commissioners because Congress created the agency.
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