Democrat commissioner and Federal Election Commission chair Ellen Weintraub said Thursday night that President Trump fired her last week but seemingly suggested that she will not leave her position.
Weintraub, a frequent critic of Trump, has served on the commission since 2002 and worked at the Democrat law firm Perkins Coie previously. She shared an image of a letter sent on January 31st that she claimed was from Trump, saying “[Y]ou are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately. Thank you for your service on the Commission.”
On X, Weintraub stated that she “[R]eceived 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.”
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’s term is meant to be for six years, as per the Federal Election Campaign Act. Her term expired almost two decades ago, but commissioners can still continue in a holdover status.
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According to theBlaze, in order to fire a commissioner, a replacement must first be nominated by the president and be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Caroline Hunter, a former Republican FEC commissioner, stated in a 2019 op-ed that Weintraub’s partisanship was “harming the legitimacy of the institution she purports to serve.”
“Commissioners are meant to be independent and neutral arbiters of campaign finance law. Yet Weintraub's statements indicate that she has prematurely judged matters that could come before the FEC, and that she radically rejects any legal perspective other than her own. Not only that, she risks misleading the public about what the FEC does and what campaign finance law really says,” Hunter said.
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