Trump Fires Only Democrats on Federal Trade Commission

Message on departure: Don’t be scared. Fight back.

By Denise Rivette

Today, President Donald Trump fired the only two Democrats on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), despite the precedent-setting ruling in the 1935 case Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, wherein the Supreme Court ruled that a president does not have the authority to remove an FTC commissioner before the end of their term except in cases of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office”. Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter provided the following statements after their firings.

Alvaro Bedoya:

I’m a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. The president just illegally fired me.

The FTC is an independent agency founded 111 years ago to fight fraudsters and monopolists. Our staff is unafraid of the Martin Shkrelis and Jeff Bezos of the world. They take them to court and they win.

Now, the president wants the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies.

Together with Chair Lina Khan and Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, I spend my time at the FTC fighting for small town grocers and pharmacists and for people in Indian country going hungry because food was too expensive. I fought for workers getting screwed on pay and benefits and overtime. I fought for their right to organize. I fought tech companies who think they can track you and your kids every hour of every day so they can pocket their next billion.

Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or someone who’s so disgusted with Washington you can barely watch the news, the FTC has worked for you.

Who will Trump’s FTC work for? Will it work for the billionaires? Or will it work for you?

It was an honor to serve my country at the FTC. It was an honor to work alongside its staff.

And to everyone who is watching all of this unfold, don’t be scared. Fight back.

Tomorrow I will testify before the Colorado Joint House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and will have more to say then.

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter:

I woke up this morning, as I have every day for nearly the last seven years, eager to get to work on behalf of the American People to make the economy more honest and fair. But 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. Why? Because I have a voice. And he is afraid of what I’ll tell the American people.

The law protects the independence of the Commission because the law serves the American people, not corporate power. 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. Removing opposition voices may not change what the Trump majority can do, but it does change whether they will have accountability when they do it. The administration clearly fears the accountability that opposition voices would provide if the President orders Chairman Ferguson to treat the most powerful corporations and the executives — like those that flanked the President at his inauguration — with kid gloves.

I have served across administrations, including during the last Trump administration, and throughout my entire time as a commissioner I applied the same criteria in my work: that the law must be enforced without fear or favor. I have dedicated myself to executing the Commission’s statutory mandate to protect consumers and promote competition, fighting against illegal business practices that make groceries more expensive, healthcare inaccessible, and compromise people’s privacy and security; it has been my greatest honor to serve.