Trump fires three Democrats on Consumer Product Safety Commission

President Trump fired three Democrats on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a five-person panel that issues standards, recalls, and bans on products it deems a risk to consumers.

The three commissioners – Richard Trumka Jr., Mary Boyle, and Alexander Hoehn-Saric – were fired Thursday night, The Hill news outlet reported.

Trumka, son of late AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, said in a statement on Friday that while he wasn't given a reason for his firing, "it immediately follows me doing two things that this Administration is against: (1) advancing solutions to protect the American people from harm, and (2) stopping the illegal firing of scores of public servants who do lifesaving work."

At a meeting on Wednesday, Trumka said he "made it clear that I was a roadblock to the administration’s plan to fire civil servants at the CPSC." The next day, the Department of Government Efficiency visited the CPSC office in Bethesda, Md., and Trumka and two other commissioners voted against bringing "aboard two DOGE detailees to the agency."

"Unfortunately for the President, he did not have the authority to fire me," Trumka said, later adding, "I’ll see him in court."

Hoehn-Saric also issued a statement on Friday, saying, "Last night, my Democratic colleagues received an email from the White House purporting to fire them from their positions. While I have received no communications from the White House, the Acting Chair is preventing me from executing my duties as Commissioner based on an assertion that the President is also seeking my removal."

"The illegal attempt to remove me from the CPSC happened immediately after my colleagues and I took steps to advance our safety work and protect our staff from arbitrary firings," he later added. "President Trump’s action politicizes a critical independent public safety agency that was structured by law to avoid such interference."