Harris’s choice of Trump debate prepper raises eyebrows for possible conflicts

Vice President Kamala Harris’s decision to tap a high-powered lawyer representing Google in an antitrust lawsuit to help prepare for presidential debates has raised concerns from operatives on both sides of the aisle.

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

“Vice President Harris should not have a Google lawyer doing her debate prep right before her administration’s Department of Justice prosecutes them in court,” a strategist and former senior Democratic aide told the Washington Examiner. “It sends a message that Harris is not the ‘tough on crime’ former prosecutor that she’s campaigning as.”

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

Dunn’s entry to Harris’s team is not unusual considering her previous work. However, the timing has raised concerns as it coincides with her representation of Google in a lawsuit filed by the DOJ alleging the company monopolizes key digital advertising technologies that website publishers rely on to buy ads and reach potential customers.

That case is separate from another Google antitrust case that was decided on Monday when a federal judge ruled that Google has acted as a monopoly and has spent tens of billions of dollars to secure its position as the world’s default search provider.

In its lawsuit, the DOJ accused Google of “neutralizing or eliminating ad tech competitors through acquisitions; wielding its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products; and thwarting the ability to use competing products.”

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

One Democratic operative told the Washington Examiner it was “problematic” for Harris to have someone in such an active role as lead counsel to Big Tech companies to have that much access and influence. 

Harris and Trump appear to moving closer to firming up at least one debate. Trump, the GOP nominee, said Thursday he’ll debate Harris three times. Harris responded by telling reporters she would agree to one ABC debate on Sept. 10. 

Some conservatives have also pointed to that role as evidence that Harris’s administration would be more lenient with Big Tech companies compared to the Biden administration. 

“She’s definitely very neoliberal compared to where the Biden administration has been on tech, and I think she’ll be much more get-along-to-go-along with the tech executives,” Jon Schweppe, policy director for the American Principles Project, told the Washington Examiner. “She’s making overtures right now in an effort to raise money to win the race. That seemingly suggests that she’d be pretty soft on — certainly on antitrust, certainly on enforcing laws regarding competition, and that sort of thing. So, yeah, that’s obviously a concern.”

Dunn’s role has also caught the eye of other Republicans who have indicated it’s likely to become an attack lobbed against Harris heading into the election. 

“Karen Dunn’s deep ties to Google ahead of the Biden DOJ case is deeply problematic for Kamala. It is a stark contrast to Trump-Vance, who are very serious and reining in Big Tech,” a Trump-aligned strategist told the Washington Examiner. “Harris will have to ask why she is hiring a Big Tech lawyer to do her debate prep while her Administration is currently prosecuting her client.”

Previously, Dunn served as a partner at the Boies Schiller law firm, where she represented Big Tech companies and Jeff Bezos. During her time there from 2014 to 2020, Dunn said she used much of the same debate prep techniques for congressional hearings as she did for Obama and Clinton. 

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

After Biden was inaugurated in 2021, Dunn helped prepare Attorney General Merrick Garland for his confirmation hearings, according to the Intercept. Her work with the attorney general’s office prompted criticism from some progressive Democrats, who pointed to her ties to Big Tech companies. 

Other Republicans say Dunn’s presence on Harris’s team will serve as just one example of a larger effort to paint Harris as soft on Big Tech corporations. 

“I think more so it’s a broader issue with Vice President Harris that her record is actually quite light, showing her willingness to hold Big Tech accountable from her time in California to her time in the Senate to her time sitting in the White House,” a GOP operative and former Senate chief of staff told the Washington Examiner. 

“I think the involvement of Karen Dunn suggests that she might backtrack on the work that’s been done, bipartisanly by the way, to hold these Big Tech firms accountable and then pursue antitrust efforts and their other attempts to skirt regulation,” the strategist added. 

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

However, the White House has maintained it is independent of the DOJ and its cases, especially as Republicans have sought 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 that policy, prosecutorial matters between the White House and DOJ “should be initially routed through the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, or the Solicitor General.”

The White House has also repeatedly pushed back against assertions that the DOJ has been weaponized by the Biden administration, especially as it has opened investigations into Trump.

The Washington Examiner contacted the Harris campaign as well as Dunn’s office for comment.