The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 11, 2025
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
After 22 years as a commissioner and chair of the Federal Election Commission, Ellen Weintraub was unceremoniously sacked by President Donald Trump with this terse sentence: “You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately.” But as with several of Trump’s recent actions, it’s not legal.
Weintraub may have made Trump’s enemies list when she and another commissioner issued a statement in 2021 after the FEC’s three Democrats and three Republicans deadlocked, subsequently dropping the campaign finance violation complaint resulting from Trump’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Weintraub and then FEC Chair Shana Broussard said after the dismissal, “The Commission therefore did not have enough votes to pursue well-grounded charges that the former President of the United States knowingly and willfully accepted contributions nearly 5,000% over the legal limit to suppress a negative story mere days before Election Day.”
The Campaign Legal Center’s Trevor Potter, himself a former FEC chair, said in a statement, “In claiming to fire a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, the president violates the law, the separation of powers, and generations of Supreme Court precedent. As the only agency that regulates the president, Congress intentionally did not grant the president the power to fire FEC commissioners,” he said.
In a post on “X”, Weintraub vowed to continue her work on the commission.
We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Federal Election Commission – Mission & History
Federal Election Commission – Agency Structure (Weintraub’s seat is now listed as vacant)
FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub on “X” – Letter Firing Wintraub from President Donald Trump
FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub on “Bluesky” – Response to Donald Trump’s Letter
Open Secrets – What is Happening at the FEC?
Campaign Legal Center – Trump Illegally Attempts to Fire Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) – No, the FEC did not absolve Trump of his hush money campaign finance issues
Federal Election Commission – (2021) STATEMENT OF REASONS OF CHAIR SHANA M. BROUSSARD AND COMMISSIONER ELLEN L. WEINTRAUB
Investigative Reporting Workshop – (2021) FEC debates deadlocks and dismissals
Groups Taking Action:
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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