1. Makan Delrahim is an Iranian-American attorney and lobbyist.
23 Facts About Makan Delrahim
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From 2017 to 2021, Delrahim served under President Donald Trump as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.
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Makan Delrahim was born on November 2,1969, in Tehran, Iran.
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Makan Delrahim's family are Persian Jews who immigrated to the United States in 1979.
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Makan Delrahim's father made a living operating a gas station outside of greater Los Angeles, which Delrahim once worked at part-time.
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Makan Delrahim initially struggled in elementary school because he did not speak English.
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Nevertheless, Makan Delrahim excelled in his studies in high school, which allowed him to gain admission to the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Rather than pursue a career in kinesiology, Makan Delrahim decided to become a lawyer, applying and gaining admission to the George Washington University Law School.
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In 1998, Makan Delrahim became a counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where he worked under chairman Orrin Hatch.
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Makan Delrahim later became the Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee, serving in this capacity until his appointment to the Department of Justice in 2003.
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Leibowitz later spoke favorably about Makan Delrahim, stating that Makan Delrahim displayed both creativity and pragmatism in this position.
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From 2003 through 2005, Delrahim served under President George W Bush as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Antitrust Division.
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Makan Delrahim later served as a commissioner on the bipartisan blue ribbon Antitrust Modernization Commission.
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At the Antitrust Modernization Commission, Makan Delrahim served along with former Chiefs of the Antitrust Division, Sanford Litvack and John Shenefield, as well as ABA Antitrust Section Chair Jon Jacobson.
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When interviewed, Makan Delrahim emphasized that under US law, a monopoly is legal as long as it does not abuse its monopoly power.
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Makan Delrahim has given speeches arguing that behavioral remedies in consent decrees to remedy an otherwise illegal merger are ineffective and that antitrust enforcers should instead employ structural remedies such as divestment.
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On May 29,2018, Makan Delrahim approved Bayer's $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto.
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Makan Delrahim recused himself from Department of Justice antitrust scrutiny of Google owing to his past consulting work for the company.
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In September 2018, Makan Delrahim fired a DOJ paralegal after she participated in a protest against Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.
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An internal DOJ investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing on behalf of the paralegal, but Makan Delrahim dismissed the conclusion of the investigation and fired her.
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In 2020, Makan Delrahim undertook a reorganization of the DOJ's antitrust division.
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In 2021, Makan Delrahim signed onto a letter alongside eight other former Assistant Attorneys General for the Antitrust Division in support of Jonathan Kanter, Joe Biden's nominee for the position.
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In March 2016, Makan Delrahim published an op-ed in the New York Post arguing that due to the importance of future US Supreme Court nominations, Republicans should support Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.