Trump Illegally Fires Democratic Commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, President Trump illegally fired Democratic FTC Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. In its latest corrupt move to disregard and dismantle an independent agency, Trump dismissed the commissioners without cause, defying a long-standing Supreme Court precedent protecting these agencies’ existence and independence from political capture and total White House control.

Free Press Vice President of Policy and General Counsel Matt Wood said:

“The firing of these two eminently qualified Democratic commissioners is a brazen attack on the independence of the FTC, on the checks and balances that undergird our democracy, and on the people most in need of those protections. This illegal action is another glaring example of the authoritarian intentions and outright corruption of the Trump administration.

“The FTC’s job is to protect people against corporate abuse, enforce the law and safeguard consumers from unfair and deceptive practices and scams. But Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their newly installed enablers across the federal government want to remove all protections and oversight against abuse of executive and corporate power so they can impose Trump’s far-right agenda on everyday Americans. Getting rid of independent agencies is a textbook tactic of totalitarian regimes across the world. It’s a direct assault on democratic governance — one that will severely harm the most vulnerable among us.

“Trump has surrounded himself with billionaires out to make money by dismantling our democracy. They will applaud today’s move because they’re the only ones served by such wanton destruction and disruption of basic consumer and civil-rights protections. The giant companies harvesting and exploiting our private data, the multinationals looking to crush small businesses, and the crooks and scammers the FTC is supposed to stop will rejoice at this decision.

“The courts and Congress must stop enabling the Trump administration’s attacks on independent agencies. They cannot ignore this unlawful attempt to destroy an agency charged with protecting people by enforcing laws and regulations that prevent fraud, deception and unfair competition. We have every confidence that Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya will use every tool at their disposal to fight their unlawful dismissal.”