Ranking Members Morelle, Padilla Raise Alarm Over Trump Attempted Power Grab of Independent Agencies Overseeing Campaign Finance Laws and Federal Elections
Committee leaders warned FEC and EAC officials about dangers of Trump’s Executive Order on administering elections and managing money in politics
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Representative Joe Morelle (N.Y.-25), Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, expressed serious concerns about the dangerous implications for elections following President Trump’s executive order purporting to bring independent regulatory agencies under total control of the White House.
“That the President would fire Chair Weintraub, hampering the efficiency and efficacy of the FEC at a time when the agency is reviewing several open matters against his campaign and his close associates, suggests the President is seeking to disrupt any investigation into his potentially corrupt campaign finance practices,” wrote the lawmakers in their letter to FEC leadership. “Today, as the nation again faces a staggering surge of money in politics and billionaires in government, we urge you to follow the law as enacted by Congress in the face of these unprecedented attempts at political interference in the FEC’s mission.”
“We urge you to follow the law as enacted by Congress and protect the EAC’s mission,” added the lawmakers in their letter to EAC leadership. “As you know, the law cannot be superseded by an EO which places the EAC under the control of the Trump White House — cutting against its founding principles and opening the door to corrupt political interference in the EAC and the state election systems it supports.”
The lawmakers warned officials at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Election Assistance Commission (EAC) of the dangers this unprecedented order could pose to administering elections, managing the influx of money in politics, and investigating any political interference of President Trump’s potentially corrupt campaign finance practices.
The lawmakers expressed particular concern given the Trump Administration’s pattern of disregarding and abusing the laws and procedures surrounding independent federal agencies in order to serve his agenda. They highlighted President Trump’s recent unprecedented step of firing Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chair Ellen Weintraub.
The FEC is an independent, bipartisan agency tasked with enforcing U.S. campaign finance laws. In the 50 years since it was created — in the wake of the Watergate scandal — a commissioner had never been fired by the President before Chair Weintraub. The EAC was created over 20 years ago in the bipartisan Help America Vote Act and was designed to preserve independence from political interference by serving election officials. Election officials across political backgrounds rely on the EAC’s assistance and resources to smoothly and securely administer elections.
The lawmakers also warned FEC and EAC leadership that the implementation of President Trump’s executive order risks the loss of critical safeguards against dangerous executive requests directing them to target particular candidates, individuals, or organizations.
Ranking Members Morelle and Padilla pressed senior officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for answers after reporting indicated employees who previously worked on election misinformation and disinformation issues were placed on administrative leave
Full text of the letters to FEC and EAC leadership is available here and here, respectively.
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