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 has walked back comments that a lack of resources is interfering with the agency’s ability to be ready for a September trial over Amazon’s Prime program

The trial case in question involves Amazon’s alleged manipulative practices in signing users up for subscriptions. At a hearing on Wednesday, Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, asked US District Judge John Chun to delay the trial until September due to the resource and personnel shortfalls at the agency, Bloomberg reports.

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,