Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns of ‘brawl’ if Kamala Harris removes Lina Khan

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has warned the Democratic party’s Wall Street donors of an “out and out brawl” if Lina Khan, the antitrust progressive who chairs the Federal Trade Commission, is removed from her post.

Ocasio-Cortez, the influential star of the party’s leftwing, suggested billionaires had been putting pressure on Kamala Harris to axe Khan if the Democratic candidate defeats Donald Trump to win the White House in November.

“Let me make this clear, since billionaires have been trying to play footsie with the ticket: Anyone goes near Lina Khan and there will be an out and out brawl. And that is a promise,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a post on X.

Khan “proves this admin fights for working people”, added Ocasio-Cortez, a US congresswoman from New York. “It would be terrible leadership to remove her.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s warning shot comes as Harris mounts a charm offensive on Wall Street and tries to persuade donors that she would be more moderate than President Joe Biden, whose antitrust platform and appointment of officials such as Khan has frustrated many in the business community.

The Financial Times reported last week that finance executives close to Harris said she had reassured them that she could appoint new officials to the FTC and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments also point to a brewing dispute within the Democratic party over the shape — and ideological bent — of a potential Harris administration.

A Democratic donor said that the US congresswoman was entitled to her view but would not be calling the shots if Harris won the election. “The party could not be held hostage to the radical progressive wing if it was serious about winning,” the person added.

The FTC declined to comment on Ocasio-Cortez’s post. Harris’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The congresswoman’s post cited comments on Khan made by businessman Mark Cuban, a former supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump turned vocal advocate for Harris.

The billionaire former star of the popular reality television programme Shark Tank told an event on Tuesday that Harris should replace the FTC chief if she becomes president. “If it were me, I wouldn’t” keep Khan on, Cuban said.

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator from Vermont, also criticised Cuban’s comments. He wrote on X that Khan, who has sued to block mergers, challenged Big Tech players such as Amazon and Meta, and focused on worker protections, was “the best FTC chair in modern history”.

Cuban on Tuesday criticised Khan’s scrutiny of technology companies and artificial intelligence.

“We have to win globally from a defence perspective and from an economic perspective,” he said. “And by trying to break up the biggest tech companies, you risk our ability to be the best in artificial intelligence in the world.” Cuban has invested in AI companies.

An FTC spokesperson responded: “History has shown that extreme consolidation weakens our national defence by concentrating risk and that unchecked monopolies reduce innovation since paradigm shifting breakthroughs come from disruptive outsiders, not large incumbents.”

Cuban on Wednesday said in an email that he had not discussed Khan’s future “at all” with Harris’s campaign.

“I don’t make policy for the campaign, I give my suggestions and feedback,” he added. “Some they listen to. Some they don’t. All final decisions are made by the VP.”

The FTC in January launched an investigation of multibillion-dollar investments into generative AI, including Microsoft’s alliance with OpenAI. Khan has warned against dominant companies “distorting innovation and undermining fair competition” in AI. 

Cuban praised Khan’s crackdown on pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen within the pharmaceutical industry who negotiate rebates from wholesale prices with drugmakers, before passing some of the discount on to consumers and pocketing the rest as profits. Cuban in 2022 launched a digital pharmacy start-up.

The FTC last month sued America’s largest PBMs over allegedly raising insulin prices artificially.

Additional reporting by James Fontanella-Khan in London