The president has tried to assert unprecedented control over independent, bipartisan bodies like the Federal Trade Commission.
President Donald Trump fired two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, carrying out another legally dubious power grab at an independent federal agency.
Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said on X that Trump had “illegally” removed him from the antitrust enforcement agency in the middle of his term, calling the move “corruption plain and simple.”
In an interview with HuffPost, Bedoya said he planned to challenge the firing in court, asserting that Trump had no legal basis for removing him.
He said he worried that Trump would turn the FTC into an agency that cuts sweetheart deals for friends of the administration, blessing the mergers of those who are politically connected. He noted that the FTC has ongoing cases against Meta and Amazon, whose founders, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, respectively, attended Trump’s inauguration.
“People are hearing the news and thinking of me ― they need to be thinking not about me but about the billionaires behind President Trump’s shoulder at the inauguration,” Bedoya said.
He went on, “Who does this benefit? Does it benefit the American people, or does it benefit the people who are behind the president?”
Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, another Democratic commissioner, said in a statement that she had been fired “illegally” as well.
“Why? Because I have a voice. And he is afraid of what I’ll tell the American people,” Slaughter said of Trump.
Until Tuesday, the commission, which normally has five commissioners, had two Democrats and two Republicans, along with one vacancy. Former Chair Lina Khan, a Democrat, stepped down shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
Several other Democratic officials have also challenged their firings after Trump tried to remove them unilaterally.
Under Supreme Court precedent, the president generally cannot fire members of independent, quasi-judicial bodies except as authorized by Congress. The Trump administration, however, is challenging that 90-year-old holding in hopes the Supreme Court will overturn it.
Bedoya shared with HuffPost the email he received notifying him of his termination, which came from Trent Morse, Trump’s deputy director of presidential personnel.
“I am writing to inform you that you have been removed from the Federal Trade Commission, effectively immediately,” it stated.
The email went on to argue that the Supreme Court precedent barring such firings, known as Humphrey’s Executor, is unconstitutional.
Trump has also fired Democratic officials at the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and the Federal Election Commission, among other agencies. Several officials have already won temporary reinstatement to their jobs as their underlying cases move forward.
Close observers of these agencies have warned that Trump’s attempts to assert control over them will undermine their ability to enforce the law without favor.
Slaughter said the FTC’s independence was crucial to its mission.
“The law protects the independence of the Commission because the law serves the American people, not corporate power,” she said. “The reason that the FTC can be so effective for the American people is because of its independence and because its commissioners serve across political parties and ideologies.”
Source: Huff Post
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