FTC lawyer Jonathan Cohen asked a federal judge during a hearing on Wednesday to delay the September trial and relax deadlines in the case, citing budgetary and staffing shortfalls. But Cohen did an about-face later in the day, telling U.S. District Judge John Chun in a brief letter that the statements he made in court were incorrect.

The FTC accuses Amazon of duping people into signing up for Prime. But it's hard to prepare for a trial when Elon Musk fires your attorneys and support staff.

The US Federal Trade Commission quickly walked back comments that resource constraints at the agency will hamper its ability to start a trial in September challenging Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime subscription practices,