Both Democrat members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) were fired by President Donald Trump on Tuesday in a shocking move that may have “major implications for the independence of the Fed,” according to a former official.
Due to the 1935 Supreme Court decision that greatly limited the president’s ability to remove officials from independent regulatory agencies like the Federal Reserve and the FTC, Trump’s move to fire FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter has been met with protest, the New York Post reported.
Both Bedoya and Slaughter called their firings “illegal” in statements posted to X:
According to Bedoya, Trump wants the commission “to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies.”
“The president just illegally fired me. This is corruption plain and simple,” he stated.
Slaughter also took to CNBC to decry her termination, warning that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell could also be removed if her firing holds up:
Bedoya concurred, writing “Commissioner Slaughter says what people haven’t realized yet: If she and I can be fired for no reason, the head of the Federal Reserve can be fired for no reason. You can like that or not like that, but this is where we’re headed if the president succeeds in firing us.”
The FTC is normally made up of five commissioners serving seven-year terms, and no more than three can be from the same party.
Trump’s firings leave two Republicans behind — Chair Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Melissa Holyoak — as the sole remaining members, as Trump-nominated Mark Meador has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
Ferguson reacted to the removal of his two colleagues in a Wednesday statement, assuring the public that “President Donald J. Trump is the head of the executive branch and is vested with all of the executive power in our government”:
I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove Commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government. The Federal Trade Commission will continue its tireless work to protect consumers, lower prices, and police anticompetitive behavior.
I wish Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya well, and I thank them for their service.
White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers said the president “has the lawful authority to manage personnel within the executive branch” in a statement obtained by the New York Post.
“President Trump will continue to rid the federal government of bad actors unaligned with his common sense agenda the American people decisively voted for,” Rogers stated.
A former FTC official told the outlet that the firings have “major implications for the independence of the Fed.”
“I think it was timed as a threat,” they added.
Powell, whom Trump nominated to lead the Fed during his first term in the Oval Office, has been at odds with the president since shortly after taking the helm of the independent agency in 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In a November 2024 appearance on Fox Business’s Kudlow, Breitbart News economics editor John Carney argued that Trump “actually has the legal authority to remove him” as chair of the Fed:
Donald Trump should ignore him. I think Donald Trump actually has the legal authority to remove him. I do not believe that executive branch officers, which essentially is what he is, he’s appointed by the president, can serve once they have lost the confidence of the president. I think the Supreme Court would side with him. Donald Trump won’t do that though. He’s not going to remove Jay Powell partly because he would end up in a court fight that might not be resolved until Jay Powell’s thing is already over.
It is unclear if the president has nominations ready to replace Bedoya and Slaughter on the FTC, but it is likely that a legal fight will take place due to their unprecedented firings.
According to Slaughter, Trump’s decision violated “the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent.”
“The law protects the independence of the Commission because the law serves the American people, not corporate power,” she added.
Lina Khan, who led the FTC during the Biden administration until Trump entered office in January, also called the president’s action “illegal”:
“The @FTC must enforce the law without fear or favor,” she wrote on X. The administration’s illegal attempt to fire Commissioners Slaughter & Bedoya is a disturbing sign that this FTC won’t. It’s a gift to corporate lawbreakers that squeeze American consumers, workers, and honest businesses.”
Be the first to comment