The two remaining Democratic commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission are fired, they announced on social media Tuesday.
Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter are both removed from the committee. The two members released separate statements on X, with Bedoya saying Trump wants the agency to be a “lapdog for his golfing buddies.”
“Together with Chair Lina Khan and Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, I spent 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,” said Bedoya. “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.”
Bedoya added he will be testifying in front of the Colorado Joint House and Senate Judiciary Committees tomorrow, and encouraged onlookers to “fight back.”
“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,” said Slaughter, shared by former FTC Director of the Office of Public Affairs Douglas Farrar. “But today the President illegally fired me from my position as a FTC Commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent.
“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,” she added. “The administration clearly fears the accountability that opposition voices would provide if the President orders Chairman Ferguson to treat the most powerful corporations and their executives—like those that flanked the President at his inauguration—with kid gloves.”
It’s likely the decision will face swift legal action, as did other attempts by the Trump administration to take unprecedented control of traditionally independent agencies.
“The FTC is now the latest agency to see its Democratic commissioners fired without cause, joining (among others) the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Election Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board—part of a sweeping attack on the federal agencies that protect U.S. workers, voters, and consumers,” said a spokesperson with the Center for Democracy and Technology, a left-leaning nonprofit focused on free speech and privacy, among other issues.
Former chair Lina Khan, also a Democratic member who gained a large following for her role in leading the department under her leadership, was replaced as chair by Andrew Ferguson. He has expressed interest in breaking apart big tech and healthcare monopolies, though he has a different approach to Khan. Antitrust lawyer Mark Meador was also nominated to the FTC Jan. 20.
A letter from Bedoya and Slaughter in December encouraged Ferguson to prioritize issues that lower the cost of living and reduce fraud, two stated aims President Trump made on the campaign trail.
One bipartisan priority of the FTC is to take on pharmacy benefit managers, another issue that Trump has supported in the past. And yesterday, the FTC urged Indiana regulators to block a hospital merger application the agency deemed a threat to competition in the state.
This story will be updated if the FTC or White House gives additional clarification on why the two commissioners were dismissed.
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