Roger Alford, the Department of Justice (DOJ) official fired after opposing a China-focused national security merger, claims to be a “genuine MAGA reformer” but has long attacked America First trade policies and voiced sympathies for Beijing, records show.
Alford claims that he was fired for acting as a MAGA populist in opposing Trump’s DOJ officials, specifically in his stance against the merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper.
Although such a merger is usually prohibited, a senior national security official told Axios that “in light of significant national security concerns, a settlement … serves the interests of the United States by strengthening domestic capabilities and is critical to countering Huawei and China.” (RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard Revokes Nearly 40 More Security Clearances In Wake Of Russiagate Fallout)
Alford said in a Monday speech at the Tech Policy Institute Aspen Forum that his actions were not meant to jeopardize US national security, but instead were him standing up against corruption and for the “rule of law against the rule of lobbyists.”
🏔️TPI Aspen Forum 2025🏔️ Former DOJ Roger Alford on The Rule of Law vs the Rule of Lobbyists (full video in thread 🧵) Prepared Remarks: https://t.co/dem9oeIzvL #tpiaspen pic.twitter.com/hH3dUWJB7k
— Technology Policy Institute (TPI) (@techpolicyinst) August 18, 2025
“Today cases are being resolved based on political connections, not the legal merits,” he said. Alford criticized members of the Trump administration while speaking at the event, which was sponsored by the likes of Google and Facebook.
Alford added that although he was dismissed for insubordination, he now hangs his termination letter in his office at Notre Dame Law School as a point of pride.
The DOJ responded to Alford’s allegations, telling the Wall Street Journal that “Roger Alford is the James Comey of antitrust—pursuing blind self-promotion and ego, while ignoring reality.”
While some may tout Alford as a whistleblower standing up against corruption, records obtained by the Daily Caller show that Alford had spent nearly a decade criticizing Trump’s economic policies while being friendly with China, the country that officials believed was a sufficient national security threat to warrant the merger that Alford had opposed.
In a 2016 speech at Renmin University in Beijing, China, Alford criticized Trump’s idea for a trade war with China as “ludicrous and uninformed,” according to a summary published in the journal Frontiers of Law in China.
In his address, Alford said that his “main concern” for the presidential election was Trump’s plan for an unprecedented ending of a free trade policy with China, according to the summary.
The summary said that Alford compared the then Republican presidential nominee with Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, adding that “Trump fundamentally distrusts basic tenets of free trade.”
WH Press Sec was asked about Roger Alford and DOJ corruption today. “I have no idea who that individual is, I don’t know why he made those comments, I don’t know what basis he’s making those comments on. My instinct tells me it’s not true but we will definitely look into them.” pic.twitter.com/qNViMjZFPT
— David Dayen (@ddayen) August 19, 2025
Alford concluded his speech by emphasizing that the US was on a “precipice of a fundamental shift in American trade policy that could cause tremendous harm to Americans generally, and to the Sino-American trade relations in particular,” according to the summary.
The event was sponsored by a law school with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Following the election, Alford worked for nearly two years as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division during Trump’s first administration, according to his LinkedIn.
During his time in that office, Alford continued to praise “China’s rising economic power and its prominence in the competition sphere” and congratulated the growth of China’s market-based economy “by leaps and bounds.” (RELATED: Chinese Illegal Gets 8 Years For Shipping Weapons To North Korea)
A 2011 article by Alford has been utilized by soft-on-China scholars to attack Trump’s positions on security and trade with the Middle Kingdom.
Alford would then go on to serve as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division for five months during Trump’s second term in office before being fired in July, according to his LinkedIn.
Alford has not yet responded to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.