White House Defends Firing of FTC Officials

The White House on Wednesday defended the firing of two Democrat commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, saying President Donald Trump was well within his legal right to do so.

On Tuesday, Trump dismissed the agency's two Democrats, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Bedoya released a statement on X saying, "I am a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. The president just illegally fired me. This is corruption plain and simple."

Bedoya added that his firing was Trump's attempt to remake the FTC into "a lapdog for his golfing buddies" and urged his followers to "fight back."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against a reporter asking about the administration's constitutional right in the firings. "The time was right to let these people go, and the president absolutely has the authority to do it. And they were given ample notice in the letter ... so it pretty much explains exactly why this administration chose to let those individuals go," Leavitt said.

Slaughter echoed the sentiment of Bedoya in her statement and added that she was fired because "I have a voice. And [Trump] is afraid of what I will tell the American people."

Slaughter was appointed during the first Trump administration in 2018, and Bedoya was appointed in 2022 under former President Joe Biden.

At the crux of the argument is the 1935 Supreme Court decision in Humphrey's Executor v. United States, which protects a president looking to remove individuals of independent boards without cause. The firings will likely result in yet another lawsuit filed against the administration as Trump seeks to clean house of Biden-era appointees.

In February, Trump fired Hampton Dellinger, the former head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Dellinger ultimately dropped his lawsuit, citing an insurmountable time frame for trial.

FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson released a statement affirming the president's legal right to fire Bedoya and Slaughter: "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."