Trump Fires Democrats on Election Commission, Republican Resigns

Trump Fires Democrats on Election Commission, Republican Resigns. President Donald Trump fired two Democratic members of the US Election Assistance Commission, an agency charged with helping states facilitate accurate elections, and the Republican member resigned, a White House official said Thursday night. The departures mark the latest move by the president to put his stamp on how US elections are run, months before voters go to the polls in November for an election that will determine control of Congress. The Supreme Court expanded a president's right to dismiss government officials, including at independent agencies, in a ruling last month that allowed Trump to fire Democratic Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, despite a law that said commissioners could be removed only for specified reasons. The White House official cited the Slaughter decision on Thursday when asked about the EAC firings. Michael Waldman, president and chief executive officer of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, called the terminations "deeply concerning in light of President Trump's relentless efforts to try to interfere in elections." "These removals leave the agency without leadership and unable to carry out its major responsibilities," Waldman said.