There is a lot of speculation this week about the reason Rachel Brand is stepping down as DOJ number 3.  Cue the scary music and intonations of Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre.  Ugh!

But I don't think this is anything more than the D.C. revolving door, and Ms. Brand and her husband are expert at this.  Hubby Jonathan Cohn makes oodles of money at white shoe Sidley, Austin after leaving the Bush DOJ, where his wife worked, as well.  Both went to Harvard Law, she clerked for Anthony Kennedy, he for Clarence Thomas, and they are pals with Ted Cruz.

As I wrote previously on AT, if you want to get ahead in D.C., you play Beltway tag-team with your spouse to climb the career ladder.  Nice to see in this case, it's two good Federalist Society members.

Now, as a top executive for Walmart, Rachel Brand will literally be paid millions of dollars, and you may wonder why she is worth such a salary.  The reason is pretty obvious.  As associate attorney general, she was in charge of a couple of departments, most notably the Antitrust Division.

What's Walmart up to these days?  Buying up online retailers like Jet.com, the better to compete with Amazon.  Who decides if Walmart can keep buying up these companies and, more importantly, if Amazon can keep buying other retailers like Whole Foods?  The Antitrust Division.  

Jeff Bezos wanted influence in Washington, so he bought the Washington Post.  The Arkansas Walton gang however, is investing millions in Republican lawyers in Trump's Washington. Pretty smart, those country boys.

Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, Ky.