President Trump has broken with decades of precedent by inserting himself directly into the regulatory decisions of agencies Congress designed to operate independently of the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to interviews with dozens of executives, lobbyists and administration officials, Trump has personally weighed in on merger reviews, broadcast-license approvals and drug-approval timetables — often after companies and advocates bypassed career staff to appeal directly to him. The prime-age employment-population ratio stood at 80.7% as of the article’s date, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 51,307.79, according to Federal Reserve data.
In one episode detailed by the Journal, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson sat in the Oval Office last August to discuss Omnicom Group’s $13 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group. Trump dialed Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy on speakerphone and told him to “make your best case” against the deal, according to people familiar with the call. Ruddy asked Ferguson to block the deal or require the merging companies to pay $250 million to a fund compensating Newsmax and other parties. Trump laughed at the request, calling it “bullshit,” and Ferguson allowed the deal to close. Ruddy, through a spokesman, disputed that characterization, including that he asked for $250 million.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr adopted a more populist posture after the 2024 election, occasionally wearing cowboy boots to work, colleagues said. He got the job after approaching Trump at the members-only patio at Mar-a-Lago during the transition and pitching himself for the role, according to people familiar with the meeting. Carr visits the club three to five times each winter, according to a person close to him. “You could read 50 years of FCC case law or you could listen to President Trump and you’re basically in the same position,” Carr told the Journal.
Carr regularly briefs Trump and top White House aides about his decisions before making them, administration officials said. The agency greenlighted a Nexstar Media Group deal that allows the combined entity to reach about 80% of U.S. television households — well above the 39% cap set by FCC rules. The approval came after Nexstar temporarily stopped carrying ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on some stations over a joke about the murder of Charlie Kirk; Trump favored the stations’ decision, people familiar with the matter said. Eight states and DirecTV sued to block the deal, and a federal judge halted the merger in April.
Carr also launched a review of Disney’s ABC broadcast licenses in April, a day after Trump demanded on social media that Kimmel be fired for a joke about first lady Melania Trump. Carr said the review concerned Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Some administration officials were surprised by the move, as the White House had been negotiating with Disney to air its “Patriot Games” youth sports competition on ESPN. Disney accused the FCC of attempting to chill political speech.
At the FTC, Ferguson regularly briefs the West Wing on potential decisions, according to administration officials. When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mounted an all-out push to get the company’s antitrust case dropped, pressing Trump, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and others, Ferguson requested a meeting with the president. Armed with a pitch deck, Ferguson persuaded Trump not to intervene and to let the case go to trial. “Can you make a deal?” Trump asked. Former FTC commissioners said it was extraordinary for a chairman to have to convince a sitting president of the merits of an antitrust trial. (Meta defeated the case in court in November.)
Ferguson has 10 meetings at the White House in the first three months of this year — the same number the Biden-era chair Lina Khan had in her last full year, according to a review of both officials’ calendars. A spokesman for the FTC said most of Ferguson’s meetings were for the White House antifraud task force. In February, Ferguson sent Apple CEO Tim Cook a letter suggesting that Apple News may violate federal law by promoting liberal content and suppressing conservative outlets.
A number of drug companies hired lobbyists to appeal directly to White House officials for FDA approvals, the Journal reported. Trump ousted FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in large part due to his unwillingness to follow White House orders. The dismissal came days after Trump met with tobacco executives who urged faster approvals for vaping flavors. Before that meeting, a Reynolds American subsidiary made a $5 million contribution to a pro-Trump super PAC. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby pitched Trump on a long-shot proposal to buy American Airlines; Trump told CNBC “I don’t like having them merge,” and United abandoned the effort less than a week later.
Adav Noti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, told the Journal that the way Trump has turned federal agencies into an arm of the presidency is a departure from previous administrations. “The expertise within these agencies is being used for political ends and to target political opponents,” he said. White House spokesman Kush Desai said Trump had the right to be informed about and express opinions on federal policymaking, adding that “President Trump, not unelected bureaucrats, was given a democratic mandate to run the federal government.”