Supporting Lina Khan
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One of the ways Harris is likely to be worse than Biden is that she has a lot of techbro allies and they are pushing her hard on Lina Khan and the Federal Trade Commission. On crypto and other issues, a lot of bigtime tech donors hope that a Harris administration gives them a free pass to exploit the public, while also supporting reproductive and gay rights. Harris has been pretty non-committal about all of this and not necessarily in a bad way. But Khan is going to need powerful supporters and she has one in James Clyburn, who came out yesterday with a full-throated defense of her work.
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, one of the most influential Democrats in the country, on Thursday praised Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s work, endorsing her continued tenure as the United States’ top antitrust regulator.
Clyburn spoke to HuffPost in a joint interview with Khan to tout the FTC’s $48 million settlement this week with Invitation Homes, a corporate landlord that the FTC accused of bilking renters for millions of dollars in junk fees, and hiding those fees through false advertising. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Clyburn had investigated allegedly illegal evictions conducted by Invitation Homes in his capacity as chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Invitation Homes is also a major landlord in Clyburn’s home state.
Asked about the Democratic megadonors from the business world who have been pushing Vice President Kamala Harris to drop Khan if Harris wins the 2024 White House race, Clyburn described the public pressure as “foolishness.”
“Should be fired for what? For doing your job? I think she’s doing a good job. I think this is an indication of doing that job,” he said, referring to the Invitation Homes settlement. “I suspect that people who represent Invitation Homes may want her to be replaced by somebody who would not do their jobs.”
Clyburn compared criticism of Khan to the opposition his daughter Mignon Clyburn faced while she served as a member of the Federal Communications Commission.
“People who come into these administrations, they come with not just competence but compassion,” he said. “And I think that the [FTC chair] has shown competence and compassion. And those people who are lacking in compassion, they’re never going to come around to your way of thinking.”
More of this from leading Dems would really help.