Inside Trump’s Takeover of the American Regulatory Machine

Sitting in the Oval Office with Ferguson last August to discuss the deal, once considered a run-of-the-mill review left to FTC staff, Trump invited an interested party to weigh in. He dialed his friend Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, who had been lobbying the president to block it, on speaker phone, according to people familiar with the call.

The head of the conservative news channel had claimed he was a victim of an advertising boycott and that Ferguson hadn’t been returning his calls. Earlier in the summer, the FTC had reached settlement terms with Omnicom, but the terms hadn’t been completed. “Make your best case,” the president told Ruddy.

Ruddy told the chairman that he shouldn’t approve the deal, and if he did, the merging companies should agree to pay $250 million to a fund to compensate Newsmax and other parties harmed by the boycott, the people familiar with the call said. Trump laughed at Ruddy’s request, calling it “bullshit.” Ferguson said no, and allowed the deal to close.

Ruddy, through a spokesman, disputed that characterization of the call, including that he asked for $250 million. Newsmax last year sued Fox News alleging anticompetitive practices, which Fox has denied. Fox News and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.

Trump has gotten involved in regulatory decisions big and small that once were made by independent agencies, according to interviews with business executives, lobbyists and administration officials, dramatically shifting the balance of power across Washington and reordering how influence campaigns are waged.

Political appointees by nature tend to be closely aligned with the president’s worldview. But former agency officials across administrations say it is highly unusual for presidents to be so intimately involved in the details of regulatory reviews. Previous presidents were careful to avoid the appearance of influencing agency decisions, typically making a point of not publicly weighing in on matters until reviews were complete.

Congress over the years authorized certain agencies to operate independently from the White House to keep some key government functions separate from politics, most of them governed by bipartisan boards whose members can only be removed for cause.

A few weeks after returning to the White House last year, Trump signed an executive order requiring independent agencies for the first time to submit major regulations to the White House budget office. Trump has fired the Democratic commissioners at multiple agencies, including the FTC, whose five-member commission is down to just two members, both Republicans. The Supreme Court is revisiting the question of whether a president can remove such officials without cause.

These days, companies are directly approaching the president instead of pleading their cases with staff or senior officials at the agencies.

Disclosures of lobbying targeting the White House increased 70% in 2025, according to an analysis of federal lobbying filings by Bloomberg Government, a government-affairs platform.

Some current agency heads explicitly welcome Trump’s interventions. “I think it’s good that he gets involved and has discussions with different CEOs,” said Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees communications from broadcast TV networks. “If you get to the president, and the president says, ‘yes,’ or the president says, ‘no,’ that helps inform and shape a lot of the discussion and debates that follow.”

Agency leaders whom Trump perceives as not moving quickly enough to implement his agenda have found themselves in the president’s crosshairs. Trump recently ousted Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, in large part due to his unwillingness to follow White House orders, the Journal has reported.

The way Trump has turned federal agencies into an arm of the presidency is a departure from previous administrations, said Adav Noti, executive director of the nonpartisan ethics watchdog Campaign Legal Center. “The expertise within these agencies is being used for political ends and to target political opponents,” he said.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said the president had the right to be informed about and express his opinions on federal policymaking, including “decision-making by so-called ‘independent’ agencies.”

“President Trump, not unelected bureaucrats, was given a democratic mandate to run the federal government and supervise federal agencies,” Desai said, adding that Trump had “repeatedly expressed his neutrality” on decisions about private business transactions.

On drug and tobacco issues, for example, Trump heard from associates eager for FDA actions.

Podcaster Joe Rogan pitched Trump on a psychedelic drug recently in a text. In response, Trump said: “Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it,” according to Rogan.

Makary’s dismissal at the FDA came days after Trump met with tobacco executives who urged the president to speed up approvals for vaping flavors, one of the issues on which Makary clashed with the White House. Before that meeting, on April 30, a Reynolds American subsidiary made a $5 million contribution to a pro-Trump super PAC. Trump repeatedly complained to tobacco executives and White House aides that Makary didn’t sign off on certain drug approvals.

Trump advisers say he has regularly heard from tobacco executives about regulatory issues. Philip Morris International’s U.S. CEO Stacey Kennedy attended a $1 million-per-person fundraiser at Trump’s Charlottesville, Va., winery in April. A company spokesman said they seek a “science-driven focus that supports innovation and a well-regulated marketplace.”

A spokeswoman for the agency said scientists made the vaping approval decision and touted the agency’s “historic” progress.

A number of drug companies have hired lobbyists to directly appeal to White House officials for FDA approvals, according to people with knowledge of the matter. For example, in May, the biotech company Replimune Group met with White House aides after clashing for months with Makary over a new melanoma drug.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby pitched the president and his aides on his long shot proposal to purchase American Airlines, saying a combined airline would improve service and be a “national champion,” people familiar with the conversation said. The airline thought in part that if the White House supported the plan, it would buttress their approval odds.

“I don’t like having them merge,” Trump told CNBC after meeting Kirby. United abandoned the effort less than a week later.

As the 2024 election drew closer, some colleagues saw a change in demeanor. Carr, who grew up in tony McLean, Va., and attended private schools, adopted a more populist, MAGA persona. Colleagues say he now occasionally wears cowboy boots to work.

He got the job after venturing to the members-only patio at Mar-a-Lago during the transition, when he was at the club for another event. There, he approached Trump and pitched himself for the role, according to people familiar with the meeting. A person familiar with Carr’s schedule said he’d met with top transition officials at least twice before that.

One of the reasons Trump’s team likes Carr: Carr’s wife, Machalagh Carr, helped resurrect Trump’s return to power after Jan. 6 while serving as chief of staff to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Carr visits Mar-a-Lago three to five times each winter and enjoys the scene at the club and riding on Air Force One, a person close to him said. He has been seen donning a gold pin of the president’s profile.

Trump has an instinctive grasp of the issues the agency deals with, Carr told the Journal. “You could read 50 years of FCC case law or you could listen to President Trump and you’re basically in the same position,” he said.

The FCC coordinates more closely with White House offices than it did previously, administration officials said. Carr regularly briefs Trump and top White House aides about his decisions before making them, and often asks White House press officials for guidance on announcements, administration officials said.

A former acting chair in the Obama administration, Mignon Clyburn, said in her more than five months in the post, she never spoke with the president.

“Carr understands one fundamental truth: There is one decision maker, and that is the president of the United States,” said Rob Wasinger, co-founder of the lobbying firm Ragnar Group who is close to Carr.

Trump sued Paramount’s CBS for $10 billion in 2024, accusing CBS News of deceptively editing an interview with his 2024 opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. He later increased the amount to $20 billion. The suit came as Paramount needed FCC approval for its plan to merge with Skydance, owned by David Ellison, the son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.

After a cocktail party at the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2024, Paramount executives told associates that they felt Carr had threatened them that the merger wouldn’t go through unless the company settled its lawsuit with Trump. A person close to Carr said he never made such a threat to executives. Shortly thereafter Paramount hired lobbyist Brian Ballard, who has good relationships in the White House.

Paramount executives agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s case last July, knowing they couldn’t get their merger approved without it, people involved in the matter said. The money went toward Trump’s future presidential library and legal fees.

Longtime staffers say they are worried the agency is no longer following its own rules. In March, the FCC greenlighted a deal for TV station owner Nexstar Media Group, run by Perry Sook, who associates describe as politically conservative, to buy a rival. The deal would allow the combined entity to reach approximately 80% of U.S. television households—well above the 39% cap set by the FCC.

The approval came after some of Nexstar’s stations temporarily stopped carrying the late night ABC show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in protest over a joke about how Trump and others reacted to the murder of Charlie Kirk. Trump favored the stations’ decision to drop the show, according to people familiar with the matter, and was regularly briefed on the deal.

Carr also wanted the transaction to go through. He told staff at both the FCC and the Justice Department, which also had oversight, to get the deal done, according to a person familiar with the matter. A person familiar with Carr’s thinking said he didn’t pressure the DOJ about the deal.

A Nexstar spokesman said that the FCC and Justice Department “conducted a rigorous, fact-based review,” and that the FCC determined the deal was in the public interest. A Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency “is committed to achieving resolutions that advance the president’s agenda, are grounded in the law and the facts, and protect taxpayer dollars.”

Eight states and satellite broadcaster DirecTV disagreed with the regulators’ decision and sued to block the deal on antitrust grounds. A federal judge halted the merger in an April ruling that Nexstar is now appealing.

Carr is now setting his sights on Disney. In April, he said the FCC had begun a review of Disney’s ABC broadcast licenses. The decision came just a day after Trump demanded on social media that Kimmel get fired for another joke, this time at the expense of first lady Melania Trump. Carr has said the review is related to Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The move surprised some in the White House, which had been negotiating with Disney to air its “Patriot Games” youth sports competition on ESPN as part of celebrations for America’s 250th birthday this year.

The FCC also has begun a probe of an ABC station in Houston regarding a recent interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico on “The View” and whether the show should be considered a news show. In response, Disney accused the FCC of attempting to chill political speech.

At an April White House event for donors that Carr attended, Trump bragged that his FCC chair was doing a good job of controlling the news media and “holding them accountable,” repeatedly singling out the chairman in the room, attendees said.

Some Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, have criticized Carr’s approach, saying it could backfire for conservatives when Democrats are back in power.

Carr said no one should be surprised at what the FCC has done under his watch because Trump ran his 2024 campaign targeting “directly at the legacy media.”

“There are consequences that have flown from that,” Carr said.

‘The Trump-Vance FTC’

The Federal Trade Commission, too, is transforming under a newly assertive Trump.

Last spring, as Meta faced an antitrust case with the agency, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his advisers mounted an all-out push to get the case dropped, repeatedly pressing Trump, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other administration officials. Trump thought that the FTC should settle it, according to people familiar with the matter.

The FTC chairman requested a meeting with the president to persuade him otherwise.

“Can you make a deal?” Trump asked Ferguson, in an April 2025 meeting at the White House.

Armed with a pitch deck, Ferguson asked Trump not to intervene on Meta’s behalf and to let the case go to trial. He told Trump that he had been negotiating with Meta every day, but that the company wouldn’t pay what the FTC was requesting: $30 billion. Trump ultimately gave his blessing. Former FTC commissioners say that it is extraordinary for a chairman to have to convince a sitting president of the merits of an antitrust trial. (Meta ultimately defeated the case in court in November.)

Administration officials said Ferguson regularly briefs the West Wing and Trump on potential decisions and cases before the agency, which reviews some mergers for antitrust concerns and investigates consumer-protection violations. He had 10 meetings at the White House in the first three months of this year—the same number the chair under Biden, Lina Khan, had in her last full year on the job, according to review of both of their calendars.

A spokesman for the FTC said most of Ferguson’s meetings were for the White House antifraud task force.

The head of the FTC in Trump’s first term, Joe Simons, at times declined to follow Trump’s demands. When Trump issued an executive order requesting that the FTC look into prohibiting anticonservative bias at social-media companies, for example, Simons refused, according to a person familiar with the episode, saying his remit didn’t cover political speech.

Ferguson has taken up the issue. In February, he sent Apple CEO Tim Cook a letter saying that the company’s Apple News product may violate federal law by promoting liberal content and suppressing views from conservative outlets.

Ferguson publicly describes the agency with a construction that some antitrust lawyers privately roll their eyes at, viewing it as degrading the agency’s historic role: “the Trump-Vance FTC.”

“They’re eliminating the agency’s integrity. They are demeaning the place,” said a former Republican FTC commissioner.

The agency’s spokesman, Joe Simonson, said: “A cowardly man who won’t put his name next to his words has no business speaking of integrity.”

He added: “The Trump-Vance FTC will continue delivering for the American people.”

Write to Josh Dawsey at Joshua.Dawsey@WSJ.com, Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com, Rebecca Ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com and Jessica Toonkel at jessica.toonkel@wsj.com