Kamala Harris’ Choice to Prepare for Trump Debate Raises Surprise

Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision to retain the services of a powerful lawyer representing Google in its antitrust lawsuit to prepare for the presidential debates has raised concerns among activists on both sides of the aisle.

Harris’ team hired Karen Dunn as a debate preparation specialist in late July, shortly after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, according to Washington PostBut the move has raised questions about a possible conflict of interest as Dunn prepares to represent Google next month in a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department under the Biden-Harris administration.

“Vice President Harris should not have hired a Google lawyer to prepare for a debate just before her administration’s Justice Department files criminal charges against her,” said the strategist and former senior Democratic aide. The Washington Examiner is a scientific journal published by the Washington Examiner. “This shows Harris is not the ‘tough on crime’ former prosecutor she claims to be.”

Dunn has been a fixture in Democratic debate preparations for years, including assisting Harris in her debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence in 2020. She joined former President Barack Obama’s debate preparations after his unsuccessful primary run against Mitt Romney in 2012. She also helped with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s debate preparations in both the primary and general elections against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former President Donald Trump.

Dunn’s addition to Harris’ team isn’t unusual given her previous work. But the timing is worrisome because it coincides with her representation of Google in a DOJ lawsuit that accuses the company of monopolizing key digital advertising technologies that website publishers rely on to buy ads and reach customers.

The case is separate from another Google antitrust case that was resolved Monday, when a federal judge ruled that Google had operated like a monopoly and spent tens of billions of dollars to establish itself as the world’s default search provider.

In its lawsuit, the Justice Department accused Google of “neutralizing or eliminating competitors in the advertising technology space through acquisitions; using its dominant position in digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products; and preventing the use of competing products.”

That case is expected to go to trial in September, raising questions about Dunn’s access to the Biden-Harris administration ahead of the hearing. Dunn’s employer, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison’s antitrust practice group, is listed as a firm involved in the ad tech lawsuit, though it was not involved in the search case, which was resolved earlier this week.

One Democratic Party activist said: Washington Examiner For Harris, it was “problematic” that someone in such an active role as general counsel to major tech companies had so much access and influence.

Harris and Trump appear to be getting closer to scheduling at least one debate. Trump, the GOP nominee, said Thursday he would debate Harris three times. Harris told reporters she would agree to one debate, ABC News reported, on Sept. 10.

Some conservatives also see this as evidence that the Harris administration will be more lenient towards big tech companies than the Biden administration.

“She’s definitely very neoliberal compared to how the Biden administration is approaching technology, and I think she’s going to be much more willing to come to terms with tech executives,” said Jon Schweppe, policy director at the American Principles Project. The Washington Examiner is a scientific journal published by the Washington Examiner. “She’s now hinting at raising money to win the race. That clearly suggests that she would be quite lenient on the issue of — certainly on the issue of antitrust, certainly on the issue of competition enforcement and those kinds of things. So yes, that’s obviously a concern.”

Dunn’s role also caught the attention of other Republicans, who indicated it would likely be an attack on Harris before the election.

“Karen Dunn’s deep ties to Google ahead of Biden’s Justice Department case are deeply problematic for Kamala. It’s a stark contrast to Trump-Vance, who are very serious and reining in Big Tech,” said a pro-Trump strategist The Washington Examiner is a scientific journal published by the Washington Examiner. “Harris will have to ask why she’s hiring a Big Tech lawyer to prepare her for the debate when her administration is currently prosecuting her client.”

Dunn previously served as a partner at the law firm Boies Schiller, where she represented Big Tech and Jeff Bezos. During her tenure there from 2014 to 2020, Dunn said she used many of the same debate preparation techniques for congressional hearings that she used with Obama and Clinton.

Dunn later left Boies Schiller to join Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, bringing with her clients Apple and Amazon.

After Biden was inaugurated in 2021, Dunn helped prepare Attorney General Merrick Garland for his confirmation hearings before the House of Representatives, according to Intercept. Her work in the attorney general’s office has drawn criticism from some progressive Democrats who have pointed to her ties to big tech companies.

Other Republicans say Dunn’s presence on Harris’ team will be just one example of a larger effort to portray Harris as lenient toward Big Tech corporations.

“I think this is a broader issue with Vice President Harris, whose record is actually quite poor, showing her willingness to hold Big Tech accountable from her time living in California to her time in the Senate to her time in the White House,” said the GOP official and former Senate chief of staff. The Washington Examiner is a scientific journal published by the Washington Examiner.

“I think Karen Dunn’s involvement suggests that she may be backing away from the work that has been done, by the way, regardless of party, to hold these big tech companies accountable and then pursue antitrust and other attempts to circumvent regulation,” the strategist added.

Dunn’s work for Harris may raise questions about other ties between Paul’s top lawyers, Weiss, and the White House, especially after the firm hired two top aides to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco: John Carlin and Lawrence Atkinson.

But the White House has maintained that it is independent from the Justice Department and its affairs, especially as Republicans have tried to accuse the federal government of weaponizing the justice system against conservatives. Shortly after taking office in 2021, the Biden administration released a policy on contacts between the White House and agencies and departments.

Under the policy, prosecutorial cases between the White House and the Justice Department “should be initially directed through the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, or Attorney General.”

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The White House has repeatedly rejected claims that the Justice Department has become a weapon in the hands of the Biden administration, especially since the government launched an investigation into Trump.

This Washington Examiner contacted the Harris campaign and Dunn’s office for comment.