The chair of the Federal Election Commission has stated that she will not leave her position after being fired under the administration of President Donald Trump, pointing out her removal is against the law.
"Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair of @FEC. There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn't it. I've been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way. That's not changing anytime soon," Commissioner Ellen Weintraub wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair of @FEC. There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn’t it. I’ve been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way. That’s not changing anytime soon. pic.twitter.com/7voecN2vpj
— Ellen L. Weintraub (@ellenlweintraub.bsky.social) (@EllenLWeintraub) February 6, 2025
Weintraub, who has served the FEC for over two decades after initially being appointed to the Commission under President George W. Bush, received the letter from Trump last Friday, reported USA Today. She has been a member of the panel since 2002, and was named the chair of this year's panel.
"You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately," the president wrote in the letter shared by Weintraub. "Thank you for your service on the Commission."
Federal law mandates that the FEC consist of three Democrats and three Republicans. They each serve six-year terms, continuing to serve past their terms until they are replaced. Furthermore, they are nominated by the president and subsequently confirmed by the Senate.
Trump has made no effort to replace Weintraub, indicating that if his termination of her succeeds, the FEC will be missing a member and a Senate-confirmed head.
Former Republican FEC commissioner Trevor Potter, who was also appointed by President George H.W. Bush and served in the 1990s, has condemned Trump's removal of Weintraub, stating that it "violates the law, the separation of powers, and generations of Supreme Court precedent."
"It's contrary to law that he has instead opted to claim to 'fire' a single Democratic commissioner who has been an outspoken critic of the president's lawbreaking and of the FEC's failure to hold him accountable," Potter, who now serves as president of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement.
Trump's removal of Weintraub is the latest in a series of terminations of federal employees he has issued, following the termination of Gwynne Wilcox, the appointed head of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
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