Federal Elections Commission chair Ellen Weintraub says she's weighing her options after President Donald Trump sent her a letter that purports to fire her.
"Well, I'm still considering all of my options at the moment, but I will tell you that my email has been turned off. My computers have been taken. My pass, I believe, no longer gets me into the building," Weintraub told MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" Friday night.
Weintraub said on Thursday she received a letter from Trump that purports to fire her but added that the action was illegal.
"If you look at the Federal Election Campaign Act, there is nothing in there about removing FEC commissioners other than in the normal course, which is you can replace them when their terms have expired by appointing a new commissioner who gets confirmed by the Senate," Weintraub told Maddow. "That's the way you replace FEC commissioners.
"There's nothing in there that says or if the president doesn't like that particular person, they can just be fired," she continued.
In a post on X, Weintraub attached the Jan. 31 letter signed by Trump, which read: "You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately."
Since taking office last month, Trump, a Republican, has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants and top officials at agencies in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
Weintraub has served as a commissioner on the FEC since 2002, according to the FEC website. It says she has "served as a consistent voice for meaningful campaign-finance law enforcement and robust disclosure."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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