Hello, welcome to another Emlex podcast. I'm James Panicki, Brussels managing editor here at Emlex,

coming to you today from our offices on the mean streets of the European quarter of Brussels.

I'm just joking, there are no mean streets in Brussels. Thank you very much for joining us,

and whether or not you're following all of the detail of the roller coaster ride that is

US politics at the moment,

subscribers to our services will be aware that there are a few key appointments

that will have an impact on the administration of antitrust in the US.

And to walk us through these issues,

who better than Leon Island, Mlex's chief global antitrust correspondent,

under normal circumstances she's based in our

offices in Washington, D.C., but she's with me in Brussels today, very much in her global capacity.

Hi, Leah. Hello.

Now, I realize it might be hard to keep up with developments at the moment, but you have

been following the appointments of the new administration as much as they affect antitrust

or other policy areas that we cover.

Let's start with the appointment of Macon Delrahim, who was appointed to head the Department of Justice's

Antitrust Division. The appointment requires Senate confirmation. When is that likely to happen?

So Macon just had his nomination hearing last week. Generally, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held the hearing, is going to wait a couple weeks,

and then they will move his nomination to the Senate floor where he'll need a full vote before the Senate.

Right now, the Senate's been taking about a month or so before they consider any appointments.

So we're probably talking about June, maybe even July before he gets in.

Is that time lapse standard?

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