Trump takes revenge on Federal Elections boss who challenged him over stolen votes
Donald Trump fired Federal Election Commission Commissioner Ellen Weintraub Thursday, taking aim at one of his chief critics over claims of election fraud.
In a response, Weintraub - who has overstayed her term on the FEC by nearly 20 years - has said that the attempted firing is illegal and that she was going nowhere.
Since taking office on January 20, Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants and top officials at agencies in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
Weintraub, appointed to the FEC by George W. Bush in 2002, posted the letter, dated January 31 and signed by Trump, to social media.
It said: 'You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately.'
Weintraub - who has consistently slammed the president's claims of fraudulent elections - refuses to leave.
'There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn't it,' she said in a post on X, which had the letter attached.
'I've been lucky to serve the American people and stir up some good trouble along the way,' she added in her post.
Donald Trump sent a letter firing Federal Election Commission Commissioner and Chair Ellen Weintraub (pictured) Thursday, taking aim at one of his chief critics over claims of election fraud
In a response, Weintraub - who has overstayed her term on the FEC by nearly 20 years - has said that the attempted firing is illegal and that she was going nowhere
A spokesperson for the FEC declined to comment on the matter. DailyMail.com has also reached out to the White House.
The FEC has six commissioners, with no more than three allowed to be from the same political party.
There is currently a vacant seat on the commission after Trump appointee Sean Cooksey resigned earlier this year.
Weintraub is the last remaining commissioner of a gang of four profiled in 2018 who had long outstayed their initial six-year terms.
She was slated to leave the FEC in 2008 but has remained because the president at the time her term was up didn't appoint a replacement.
By law, commissioners are allowed to stay on as 'acting' commissioners until a replacement is appointed. It is unclear if Trump has anyone named to join the commission in her stead.
She was recently re-elected as chair of the commission to begin 2025; Republican James E. “Trey” Trainor, III was elected vice chair.
Weintraub has fashioned herself as a critic of Trump since he emerged as a political force a decade ago.
Weintraub, appointed to the FEC by George W. Bush in 2002, posted the letter, dated January 31 and signed by Trump, to social media
On January 6, 2021, she slammed Trump for refusing to concede the 2020 election amid the events at the Capitol.
'No, Mr. President, the election was not stolen. You lost a free and fair election fair and square,' she wrote.
'Summon an iota of patriotism: Concede the election you have lost. Condemn the violence you have incited.'
That was far from the first time she'd taken aim at the president during his first term in office.
In 2019, she criticized him for claiming that he would accept dirt on an opponent from a foreign power.
Her tweet came after President Trump doubled down on a statement saying he meets with foreign heads of state all the time and can't be expected to call the FBI after each one.
