Big Tech antitrust lawyers ramp up Harris fundraisers: Trying to storm the castle
High-powered lawyers representing Big Tech clients have co-hosted a series of blue-chip fundraisers for Kamala Harris’s campaign as the 2024 presidential election draws near – and antitrust watchdogs are crying foul.Last Thursday, a group of “antitrust lawyers and economists for Harris” held a virtual fundraiser featuring an appearance by former US Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta.
Ticket prices ranged as high as $6,600, according to a copy of an invitation obtained by The Post.Notable co-hosts included Daniel Bitton, a partner at San Francisco-based law firm Axinn who is defending Google in the Biden-Harris DOJ’s lawsuit targeting its alleged monopoly over digital advertisingOther co-chairs included Renata Hesse, who once downplayed concerns about Google’s monopoly over online search; Edith Ramirez, a former Democratic FTC chair who once defended Google-owned YouTube in a class-action suit over kids’ privacy; and Ethan Glass, who has repped clients like JetBlue against US antitrust complaints.“This is a confab of ‘Big Law’ lawyers who have been representing monopolists against the FTC and DOJ, and they are shamelessly trying to storm the castle after being locked out during the Biden years,” one Democrat who pays attention to antitrust issues told The Post.The Post reached out to the Harris campaign, Bitton, Hesse, Ramirez and Glass for comment but did not hear back.Earlier this month, The Post reported on conflict-of-interest concerns that arose after several key members of Google’s legal team co-hosted an Oct.18 fundraiser for Harris in Washington, DC – with tickets costing as much as $50,000.Karen Dunn, a top litigator at white-shoe law firm Paul Weiss who infamously led Harris’s final debate prep against Trump on the same day that she delivered Google’s opening defense in the digital advertising trial, was listed as a co-chair.
Dunn’s colleagues Jeannie Rhee and Bill Isaacson also attended the event, which featured appea...