Trump fires top election official, she says not leaving ‘anytime soon’

The Chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission, Ellen L. Weintraub, said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump had moved to fire her. Weintraub has served as a Democratic commissioner on the bipartisan panel since 2002. While speaking on the matter, she shared a short letter on her social media account which was signed by Trump.

The letter reads that she was “hereby removed” from the commission “effective immediately”. Weintraub argued that she did not see the president’s move as legally valid and that she is now considering options on how to respond to the letter. “There’s a perfectly legal way for him to replace me,” Weintraub said on Thursday evening. “But just flat-out firing me, that is not it," she added.

It is pertinent to note that the Federal Election Commission is the nation’s top campaign watchdog agency and is made up of three commissioners. The commission is bipartisan since three out of six commissioners are aligned with Democrats while the other three lean towards Republicans. Over the years, the structure has contributed to repeated deadlocks when one party is under investigation.

Weintraub’s term expired in 2007

According to the New York Times, Weintraub’s term as the commissioner expired back in 2007. However, still serves on the commission’s board. The position of the chair usually rotates every year. Weintraub took up the role once again in January.

As per the rule of the body, a commissioner is removed only after his or her replacement is confirmed by the US Senate. Weintraub noted that the president does not have the power to force her out of the commission before her replacement is confirmed. Not only this, it would take weeks for the Senate to confirm Trump’s choice if he has someone in mind.

Trump’s move was condemned by Trevor Potter, a former commissioner and chairman of the commission nominated by former President George H.W. Bush. He said that Trump’s decision to fire Weintraub abruptly violates the constitutional separation of powers. “Congress explicitly, and intentionally, created the FEC to be an independent, bipartisan federal agency whose commissioners are confirmed by Congress,” Potter said.

“As the only agency that regulates the president, Congress intentionally did not grant the president the power to fire F.E.C. commissioners," he added. Meanwhile, the White House has yet to respond to the matter.

The legacy of Ellen L Weintraub

Weintraub is known as the chief architect of a novel strategy to further paralyze the commission in partisan deadlocks in order to compel enforcement of the nation’s election laws through the courts. In the past, she called it the last resort to stymie the three Republicans on the commission.

On Thursday, she cited FEC complaints focused on Trump’s presidential campaigns as one reason she may have earned the president’s ire. “There have been dozens of complaints filed against the president,” the federal official said, noting that the commission has not been able to pursue them because of the 3-to-3 partisan deadlock. “I have pointed that out. I’ve written about this. So I’m not really surprised that I am on their radar," she added.