Public Knowledge Wednesday said that the reported exit of Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney should not mean any less rigorous review of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger.
Varney was overseeing Justice's antitrust review of the deal, as she had its approval of the Comcast/NBCU merger.
The Wall Street journal reported that she was heading to law firm Cravat, Swayne & Moore.
"We thank Christine Varney for her exemplary service as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division," said Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn. "Even though she is leaving, we expect the Division's staff to continue the independent, rigorous analysis they are undertaking in reviewing AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile."
"We are confident that the DOJ's dedicated staff, as well as Varney's successor, will continue to carefully and expeditiously evaluate the dangers of the pending AT&T takeover of T-Mobile," added Vonya McCann, SVP of government affairs for Sprint, one of the deal's biggest critics.
Both Public Knowledge and Sprint say Justice's conclusion should be that the deal violates antitrust laws.
