As criticism intensified over a controversial merger settlement and the MAGA lobbyists who helped deliver it, the Justice Department moved to dismiss a second merger challenge on Tuesday, in a case that once again appeared to involve lobbyists with close ties to the Trump White House and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
DOJ gave a notice of voluntary dismissal of its challenge to a $540 million merger between American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) and CWT Holdings, a case the Antitrust Division filed in mid-January at the end of the Biden administration. A trial had been scheduled for September. The merger brings together the two largest companies in the field of business travel management, and is the fifth large merger Amex GBT has pulled off since 2018.
According to three sources, the Justice Department deliberately dismissed the case rather than engage in a settlement. That avoids the Tunney Act, the 1974 law that allows the presiding judge to hold evidentiary hearings to assess whether the settlement meets the public interest and whether there was any untoward influence in the decision-making process. An earlier DOJ settlement in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise–Juniper Networks merger case could trigger a Tunney Act proceeding, which several anti-monopoly Democrats are demanding.
If DOJ had settled, the case would have reached the desk of Judge Jed Rakoff, the irascible veteran jurist who railed against unfairness and corruption in the justice system in his 2021 book Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System. But the voluntary dismissal means that Judge Rakoff does not have to approve the outcome for the case to end.
The dismissal shows that top Justice Department officials may be learning from the misstep in the HPE-Juniper case, which could expose the deep involvement of corporate lobbyists and pay-to-play policymaking to the light of day. Leadership offices were involved in making the Amex GBT case a dismissal, sources told the Prospect.
The dismissal came a day after two top deputies to Antitrust Division chief Gail Slater were fired for alleged insubordination. Roger Alford, one of the architects of aggressive antitrust enforcement from a conservative perspective, was one of the two let go. The timing made one source with knowledge of the inner workings of DOJ wonder if the department was trying to make a point that mergers are now welcome for the right price. “Companies can fire their expensive lawyers and hire lobbyists instead,” the source said.
Because of federal lobbying disclosures, we already know that Amex GBT worked to stamp out their antitrust problems by hiring the most powerful lobby shop in the Trump era: Ballard Partners, the firm that Bondi herself worked at prior to becoming attorney general.
Ballard registered to lobby for Amex GBT on “Antitrust issues” in 2025, and received $200,000 for work provided in the first half of the year. Brian Ballard, the principal of the firm, and Justin Sayfie were registered to work on Amex GBT’s behalf. The disclosures specifically say that Ballard lobbied the Department of Justice, despite Bondi being a partner with the firm until January of this year.
Ballard, which has close ties to the Trump White House dating back to his first term, raked in a whopping $14 million in lobbying revenues in just the first quarter of 2025, more than triple the number from a year earlier. In the second quarter, that number jumped to $20.6 million, leading all lobbying firms in the quarter.
In her Ethics Agreement, Bondi pledged to “not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which I know Ballard Partners is a party or represents a party, unless I am first authorized to participate.” The Justice Department did not answer questions about Bondi’s involvement.
It is not known whether other lobbyists, including those who shepherded the HPE-Juniper case through, were also involved in the case.
Sources told the Prospect that the Trump regime in the Antitrust Division wasn’t entirely excited about the Amex GBT case. But there are several other merger challenges that have not yet been dealt with, including one between UnitedHealth and Amedisys, which DOJ sued to block last November.
Patrick Andersen, the CEO of CWT Holdings, said in a statement that “We are pleased that the DOJ has come to this conclusion … Our customers and people have an exciting future ahead of them as we turn our focus to completing the transaction and integrating with Amex GBT.” Added Amex GBT CEO Paul Abbott, “Together, we will offer customers unrivalled choice, value, and experience.”
UPDATE: In a statement to the Prospect, DOJ spokesman Gates McGavick said that “Attorney General Pam Bondi had no involvement in this antitrust decision.” Antitrust division head Gail Slater added that “The Antitrust Division, alone, made the decision to dismiss the case after a robust investigation. The Division must also consider the enforcement trade-offs inherent to thoughtful and effective use of its limited taxpayer-funded resources.”
Officials are certainly allowed to review decisions made by the previous regime, and they may have felt like online tools would add competition in travel management. But the timing of waiting six months to address the case and then dismissing a day after top deputies are fired is more than suspicious, and the credibility after the HPE-Juniper case is waning.