A lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission has walked back his comments about a lack of resources and staff turnover interfering with the agency’s preparations for a trial involving Amazon’s Prime program.

The Federal Trade Commission is in a "dire resource situation," a federal lawyer said on a call about its major lawsuit against Amazon. Within hours, he retracted the claim.

The Federal Trade Commission yesterday asked a court for extra time before proceeding on a case against Amazon, claiming its resources are too constrained, before reversing course just hours later. Why it matters: This suggests that the FTC may struggle to meet its responsibilities,