Pierre Omidyar may be the most influential private citizen you’ve never heard of. The former CEO of eBay, Omidyar now leads the Omidyar Network, a self-described “philanthropic investment firm” which funds far-left nonprofits that have vowed to “reimagine capitalism” and create an “anti-racist economy” – and has a heavy presence in the Biden administration.
According to a new report out from The Daily Wire this week, the French-born Omidyar has installed dozens of key allies from his network of charities and nonprofits in top Biden administration posts, including an unusual number of high-ranking officials at the Federal Trade Commission. As Luke Rosiak writes for the Wire, “Lina Khan, the FTC’s chair, was previously the legal director of the Open Markets Institute, funded by the Omidyar Network.” The FTC’s chief of staff, chief technology officer, technology advisor, spokesperson, and one of the agency’s five commissioners – conveniently the one that gives the commission a Democrat majority – all also previously worked under the Omidyar Network umbrella, along with dozens of other lower-level staffers.
As AMAC Newsline has previously reported, Khan’s FTC is responsible for highly controversial actions such as banning employers from requiring workers to sign noncompete agreements.
The Omidyar Network also succeeded in installing its allies in key posts at the Biden Department of Justice. DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter, the division’s Senior Counsel Sally Hubbard, and Deputy Chief of Staff Robyn Shapiro all came from the American Economic Liberties Project, another member of the Omidyar Network.
At least 12 staffers in the Biden White House itself have direct ties to the Omidyar Network – after Omidyar allegedly funneled millions of dollars through left-wing dark money groups to Biden’s 2020 campaign.
As Rosiak reports, “One of Omidyar’s top goals is breaking up companies, particularly tech firms.” While that might sound like good news to conservatives concerned about Big Tech censorship and left-wing bias, Omidyar’s issue with tech companies appears to be that they aren’t left-wing enough and should be doing more to help Democrats in elections.
In total, the Omidyar Network has doled out some $1.86 billion to advance left-wing causes, saying that it hopes to “reimagine critical systems, and the ideas that govern them, to build more inclusive and equitable societies.” Back in 2020, Omidyar himself issued a “Call to Reimagine Capitalism in America,” lamenting “structural racism, colonialism, paternalism,” and advocating for “an explicitly anti-racist and inclusive economy.” He also pledged to “commit to the calling of Angela Davis,” a self-described communist involved in the Jonestown suicide cult.
Omidyar has also written that former President Donald Trump “is a dangerous authoritarian demagogue” and that “endorsing Donald Trump immediately disqualifies you from any position of public trust.”
Omidyar’s activism immediately calls to mind comparisons to liberal billionaire George Soros, whose sprawling network of charities and nonprofits has directly led to the rise of progressive prosecutors and the so-called criminal justice “reform” movement.
But in some ways the Omidyar Network is even more dangerous. While Soros primarily funds prosecutors who are ultimately accountable to voters, Omidyar’s acolytes carry out their ideological agenda from unelected posts deep in the federal bureaucracy. By avoiding direct campaign contributions, Omidyar has largely flown under the radar and impacted policy from the shadows.
Rosiak’s reporting likely just scratches the surface of the Omidyar Network’s web of influence. It also appears to vindicate Trump’s warnings about the Deep State and further underscore the importance of Trump’s plans to slash the size of the federal government and root out ideologically motivated bureaucrats.
Specifically, Trump has promised to reclassify tens of thousands of bureaucrats responsible for carrying out policy under a new “Schedule F” designation to allow the president to fire them. Currently, these bureaucrats can openly thwart a president’s agenda but are legally protected from firing. Trump initiated the creation of Schedule F during his first term via executive order, but Biden rescinded it.
Trump has also vowed to cut entire offices and agencies, dramatically reducing the overall number of federal employees. Under Joe Biden, the size of the federal bureaucracy has exploded, with federal employment up more than 1.1 million since Joe Biden took office and federal jobs accounting for 30 percent of all job growth over the past year.
These actions by Trump would weaken the ability of unelected individuals like Omidyar to influence federal policymaking and potentially thwart the will of a president elected by voters. While the Omidyar Network might agree with Biden ideologically, the real danger comes when these same partisan actors work to undermine a conservative president.
As long as Biden remains in office, however, the Omidyar Network will likely continue to enjoy immense sway over public policy – and the lives of the American people as well as the integrity of their democracy will continue to suffer as a result.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
