Attorneys at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked a federal judge Wednesday to delay its consumer protection trial against Amazon by two months, saying that staffing losses and a possible office move could hinder its ability to prepare. We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team, FTC attorney Jonathan Cohen said at a status hearing in Washington, according to CNBC. Cohen also warned that a potential sudden office move for the agency could disrupt its preparation, CNBC reports. The FTC recently terminated around a dozen probationary staffers, The Verge first reported. Its so far been spared from some of the wider cuts fueled by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which have occurred at agencies including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Education. FTC staff were recently told by DOGE theyd need to move to an office it cleared out from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the coming months, Bloomberg reported.Responding to Judge John Chuns question about how the FTCs resource issue will be different in two months, Cohen acknowledged he cannot guarantee if things wont be even worse, CNBC reports. But theres a lot of reason to believe ... we may have been through the brunt of it, at least for a little while.The FTC filed suit against Amazon in June 2023, under the previous Democratic chair Lina Khan. The agency alleged that Amazon used design tricks known as dark patterns to deceive millions of customers into signing up for its Prime subscription, and made it difficult to unsubscribe. Under Khan, the FTC also separately filed an antitrust complaint against Amazon. Both those cases are now under the stewardship of the new Republican FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, whos signaled both loyalty toward President Trump and his policies, and combativeness toward Big Tech. Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos has recently cozied up to Trump, attending his inauguration alongside other tech CEOs after Amazon gave $1 million to his inauguration fund.The Amazon Prime trial was initially scheduled to begin on September 22nd. John Hueston, arguing on Amazons behalf, reportedly pushed back on the FTCs attempt to delay the trial, saying that the government hasnt shown that it doesnt have the resources to proceed as scheduled. What I heard is that theyve got the whole trial team still intact. Maybe theres going to be an office move, Hueston said, as reported by CNBC. And by the way, both in government and private sector, Ive never heard of an office move being more than a few days disruptive.See More: