This is so grossly political that it's disgusting. Clearly the administration sees Google through the lens of an adversary, which is astonishing enough.

When reading something like this, "according to five people briefed on internal department conversations." is the first clue. You have mass leakage of internal discussions, with career ending consequences. You can't have any greater signal that something is very wrong, and that people believe the chain of reporting is compromised.

The question of whether Google represents a monopoly is critical for every software professional in this forum, and it is a trillion dollar US company that represents most people's discovery platform for information. It has has nuance, and there are gray areas that are going to have generational impact when they are litigated. It an important legal question and not well served by a thin case served out two months from an election.