washington president donald trump lead choice run federal trade commission washington lawyer serve agency top official president george w. bush person brief matter say wednesday joseph simons partner law firm paul weiss rifkind wharton garrison llp lead choice run ftc act ftc chairman maureen ohlhausen run agency since january bloomberg news report lead choice simons early wednesday time formal presidential nomination clear simons head ftc bureau competition june 2001 august 2003 involve number major antitrust case acquisitions private practice ohlhausen previously head ftc office policy plan veteran law firm wilkinson barker knauer llp ohlhausen expect remain ftc commissioner source say ftc five commission seat ohlhausen commissioner terrell mcsweeny democrat two empty seat may go republicans remain seat must go either democrat independent lead candidate another republican slot noah phillips aide senator john cornyn accord person brief matter white house spokeswoman lindsay walters say wednesday administration announcement time simons immediately return request comment ftc spokeswoman comment ftc two main missions one fight scam deceptive advertise review mergers ensure comply antitrust law ftc currently review amazon.com inc amzn.o propose 13.7 billion acquisition whole foods market inc wfm.o ftc sue qualcomm inc qcom.o january allegations anticompetitive behavior maintain monopoly chip let cell phone connect mobile data network ftc sue stop mergers deem illegal staple attempt buy rival office depot process decide walgreens boot alliance inc wba.o allow merge rite aid corp rad.n create large u.s. drugstore chain june fantasy sport company fanduel draftkings scrap plan merge follow ftc legal challenge bush-era ftc official trump favorite chief source