LACONIA, N.H. — Presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., says that he sees a problem with “corporate consolidation” and not enough enforcement of antitrust laws, but he refused to name the companies that he thinks should be scrutinized.
“I don’t care if it’s Facebook, the pharma industry, even the agricultural industry,” Booker said in an ABC interview released Saturday. “We’ve had a problem in America with corporate consolidation that is having really ill effects. It’s driving out the independent family farmer. It’s driving up our prescription drug costs. And in the realm of technology, we’re seeing small — one or two companies, controlling a significant amount of the online advertising.”
Unlike Democratic presidential primary rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has called to break up Facebook, Google, and Amazon, Booker declined to name specific companies that he finds a problem, saying that he believes in “process.”
“It’s not about me and my personal opinion about going after folks. That sounds like more of a Donald Trump thing to say,” Booker said.
When pressed at a campaign stop in Laconia, N.H. on Sunday as to why he will not name the companies that should be scrutinized, Booker again dodged the question.
“Again, I believe very strongly that I will have, if I’m president of the United States, I will have a [Department of Justice] and [a Federal Trade Commission] that goes after, looks at more recent mergers, and starts to put a better scrutiny on the mergers that are being proposed,” Booker told reporters. “And more than that, that’s going to look at those companies that are — that are violating antitrust laws.”
Booker’s reluctance to name specific companies also stands in contrast to Sen. Kamala Harris of California, another Democrat running for president, who suggested in a CNN interview Sunday that regulators should “seriously take a look at” breaking up Facebook.
“When you look at the issue, they’re essentially a utility. Very few people can get by and be involved in their communities or society or in whatever their profession without somehow, somewhere using Facebook,” Harris said.
[Read more: Cory Booker: Americans should be ‘thrown in jail’ if they won’t give up their guns]
