Attempted Illegal Firing of Consumer Agency’s Leaders Hurts Taxpayers, Helps Scammers and Corporate Lawbreakers

March 19, 2025

For Immediate Release:

Attempted Illegal Firing of Consumer Agency’s Leaders Hurts Taxpayers, Helps Scammers and Corporate Lawbreakers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump’s attempted unlawful firing of the Federal Trade Commission’s two Democratic Commissioners Tuesday evening not only upends long-established law on independent federal agencies, it also brings unnecessary instability to a consumer watchdog that everyday helps seniors, military members, and families fight scams and fraud in the marketplace, the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) said.

The Democratic commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya both said in separate statements that they would challenge their firings in court. The independent five-member commission now has two commissioners. The fifth seat is currently empty, but a nominee is awaiting confirmation.

“With these attempted firings, the president is continuing his war against American families, employing tactics to tie the hands of federal consumer watchdogs and give free rein to corporate greed and malfeasance that will pick the pockets of millions of hardworking people,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of NACA.

Congress created independent agencies, such as the FTC, with specific legal authorities and statutory missions to protect the public interest. Their design and individual mandates ensure that the regulators can conduct their work without undue interference from the president. In this case, the Federal Trade Commission was created to curb unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent schemes in the marketplace.

“Firing Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya undermines the FTC’s Congress-given purpose to shield consumers from the worst corporate misconduct and turns the agency into a puppet for the corporate-friendly administration,” said Christine Hines, NACA’s senior policy director.

A strong FTC is needed. The attempted firing of its leaders comes on the heels of a report finding a huge surge in consumer fraud losses to $12.5 billion in 2024, including from growing identity theft.

“A weakened FTC leaves ordinary people even more exposed to increasingly savvy scammers, as well as to the misconduct of powerful big-tech companies that the FTC sought to address,” Hines said. “Big tech will be even more emboldened to remove its competition, collect our personal data, restrict our speech, and violate our privacy.”

The unlawful attempted firings indicate an ongoing campaign to weaken safeguards for Americans against harmful corporate practices. In the last several weeks, the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also has been hampered by the firing of its employees (being challenged in court), and stoppage of its work.

###