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Google’s Top Lobbyist Departs During Continued Regulatory Scrutiny

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 30: The Google logo is displayed on a Google bike on January 30, 2024 in Mountain View, California. Google parent company Alphabet will report fourth quarter earnings today after the closing bell. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (Justin Sullivan/Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Ge)

(Bloomberg) -- Google’s top lobbyist Mark Isakowitz is departing the company, leaving the tech giant without one of its most prominent Republican executives shortly before President-elect Donald Trump steps into office for a second time. 

Isakowitz told Google staffers he has “been given a precious opportunity to play a role in government at an important time,” according to an email obtained by Bloomberg News. Isakowitz will become chief of staff to incoming Republican Senator-elect Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, McCormick’s office said. Axios earlier reported that Isakowitz had been hired for the Senate job. 

In the email, Isakowitz said Google lobbyists Cris Turner and Anne Wall will “ensure a smooth transition and lead into 2025.” The company will be conducting a search for a replacement.

His departure will leave a power vacuum at the top of the company’s lobbying team, which is facing a second Trump administration determined to crack down on the biggest tech companies. Trump earlier this month selected Gail Slater, a major critic of the industry and former lobbyist for Google rivals Fox Corp. and Roku Inc., to head up antitrust enforcement at the Justice Department.

“Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!” Trump said when he announced Slater to her post.

On Tuesday, Trump also announced he has selected Mark Meador, a former staffer to Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. Meador played a central role in writing legislation to crack down on Google’s dominance over the online ads ecosystem.

Isakowitz has spent years navigating choppy waters in Washington. He left his role as Republican Senator Rob Portman’s chief of staff in 2019 to helm Google’s policy shop. Since then, he has shepherded the company through an increasingly hostile Washington, defending the tech company as it faced two antitrust lawsuits from the Justice Department, dozens of congressional hearings, scrutiny over its impact on children and online speech, accusations of political bias from conservatives and much more. 

Isakowitz was instrumental in the massive lobbying campaign in 2022 that successfully killed antitrust legislation to crack down on the country’s largest tech companies.

Earlier this year, a federal judge declared Google’s search engine operates as an illegal monopoly. The Justice Department has proposed that Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. sell off its Chrome browser — potentially for as much as $20 billion — to address those concerns. 

Isakowitz earlier this year announced the company’s support for some pieces of legislation related to artificial intelligence. 

“Mark has been a terrific colleague and leader who’s built a great team during his five years at Google,” Karan Bhatia, Google’s global head of policy, said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We’re sorry to see him leave, but are proud of him for once again serving the country, and wish him every success.”  

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