A White House official confirmed the firings of Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya to the Washington Examiner.
The move is another step by the president to remake the federal government. Last month, Trump signed an executive order giving him greater power to supervise independent agencies. The FTC traditionally has five members, three for the president’s party and two for the minority party.
Both Democratic FTC commissioners released statements on Tuesday protesting their ouster and claimed they would take the case through the court system.
“I am a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. The president just illegally fired me. This is corruption plain and simple,” Bedoya wrote in a statement.
Bedoya also claimed that Trump “wants the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies.”
“Today the president illegally fired me from my position as a federal trade commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent,” Slaughter said in her own statement. “Why? Because I have a voice. And he is afraid of what I’ll tell the American people.”
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, a Republican, said in a statement that he had “no doubts” about Trump’s constitutional authority to remove the two commissioners.
Liberal lawmakers quickly condemned the firings and called for their reinstatement.
“Donald Trump just illegally fired two independent commissioners at the FTC who fight big corporations that abuse consumers and workers,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said in a statement.
“Why? Trump’s billionaire donors expect a return on their investment. He works for them, not you,” she continued. “The courts must reinstate the commissioners.”
