President Donald Trump is trying to take away Ellen Weintraub, the chair of the Federal Election Fee, however the official who has been in workplace for over twenty-two years says she won’t depart. Over time Weintraub has known as out Trump for selling lies about election integrity and security.
On Thursday, Weintraub posted a letter that she had obtained from Trump informing her “you are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately.”
In response, Weintraub wrote, “There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn’t it. I’ve been so fortunate to serve the American people and stir up some good trouble along the way. That’s not changing anytime soon.”
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Acquired a letter from POTUS as we speak purporting to take away me as Commissioner and Chair of the FEC. There is a authorized approach to exchange FEC commissioners-this is not it. I have been so lucky to serve the American individuals and fire up some good bother alongside the way in which. That is not altering anytime quickly.
— Ellen L. Weintraub (@ellenlweintraub.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T23:41:05.134Z
As The New York Instances defined the elimination course of, “A commissioner is removed only after a replacement is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and Ms. Weintraub said that the president did not have the power to force her off the commission before that. Mr. Trump did not name a successor to Ms. Weintraub in his letter, and it would take weeks at least for his choice for commissioner to be approved by the Senate.”
The fee is an unbiased company of the U.S. authorities with oversight of marketing campaign legislation and coverage. Weintraub has been with the fee since 2002 and has been the chair since January.
Weintraub famous to The New York Instances that there have been “dozens of complaints” about allegations of election legislation violations in opposition to Trump, however as a result of the fee is at a 3-3 partisan impasse, a lot of these claims haven’t been investigated.
“I have pointed that out. I’ve written about this. So I’m not really surprised that I am on their radar,” she mentioned.
In 2019, Trump claimed at a rally that there was voter fraud in New Hampshire through the 2016 election and that was the rationale he misplaced there to Sec. Hillary Clinton.
As has incessantly been the case, Trump by no means supplied any proof of his declare.
That yr Weintraub additionally took Trump to process after he mentioned that any debate about election safety was “meaningless” with out including voter ID.
Weintraub responded, “Not this again. Russians were impersonating Americans on #Facebook, not in person at polls. It’s well past time to get serious about defending democracy from *real* threats identified by national security experts. Support the bipartisan bills that will protect our 2020 elections.”
Conservatives have typically championed voter ID legal guidelines, largely as a result of when such legal guidelines are put in place it suppresses votes by minority communities and youth voters—each constituencies which have traditionally supported Democrats in overwhelming numbers.
Republicans have complained about Weintraub’s advocacy for fact on election points for years, whilst Trump has been convicted for crimes referring to his marketing campaign expenditures. Now he’s utilizing the ability of the presidency to eliminate one other critic, however she shouldn’t be going quietly—if in any respect.
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