President Donald Trump’s efforts to remake the administration continue today, with the firing of two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission. The institution has five members in history: three from the same party as the president and two from each other. The New York Times The president terminated the roles of FTC Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya.
Both Slaughter and Bedoya said today that it is illegal to fire them. The Commissioner’s terms can only be ended early for good reasons, such as “inefficiency, neglect of duties or responsibilities for duties”. Similarly, no more than three commissioners can come from the same party, meaning that the couple cannot be replaced by other Republicans either. Trump appears to face legal challenges in attempts to eliminate these positions.
“The law protects the independence of the Commission because the law serves the American people, not corporate power,” Slager said in a statement. “The reason why the FTC is so effective for the American people is because it has independence and because its commissioners serve in various parties and ideologies. Eliminating the voice of the opposition may not change what the Trump majority can do, but whether they will be held accountable in doing so, it does change.”
Bedoya also talked about the action on X, which listed the statement of the massacre that it was illegal to delete their posts. “Tomorrow I will testify before the United Colorado Building and the Senate Judiciary Committee and then there is more to say,” he wrote.
Trump signed a February attempt to exert more control over several agencies that intend to remain outside the White House authority. The order targets institutions such as the FTC, the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. All of the FTC’s recent posts on its business blog are from Biden’s Administration, leaving a four-year gap with no published compliance advice.
