Adam Candeub Considered for Justice Department Antitrust Chief

Adam Candeub is under consideration to serve as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. He currently works as general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Brendan Carr.

Candeub previously served as a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America. Other candidates interviewed for the role include Mike Murray, a former Justice Department lawyer now at Paul Hastings LLP, and Adam Cella, a lawyer who works for House Republicans.

Assefi currently serves as acting assistant attorney general for antitrust and plans to depart next month. Assefi took the acting role after Gail Slater was terminated in February following disagreements with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

A Justice Department spokesperson stated that Assefi had been a valuable leader in the Antitrust Division. Assefi told CBS News he intended to focus enforcement on cases affecting consumer prices.

The Justice Department reached a settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster in a monopoly case involving multiple states. Thirty states declined to join the settlement and continued with litigation. A New York federal judge later ruled that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had operated as an illegal monopoly.

The settlement occurred while the division was also reviewing other high-profile mergers, including a proposed transaction between Warner Bros. and Paramount Skydance.