May 9 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has fired three Democrats sitting on the five-member Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Former chair Alex Hoehn-Saric and Commissioners Mary Boyle and Richard Trumka Jr. are now all listed on the agency’s website under the past commissioners section.
Trumka confirmed the move in an Instagram post.
“Last night, I received an email stating that the President wanted to fire me as Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission,” Trumka, who was appointed in 2021 to a seven-year term, said in the social media post.
“Of course, he did not give any reason why. However, it immediately follows me doing two things that this administration is against: advancing solutions to protect the American people from harm, and stopping the legal firing of scores of public servants who do lifesaving work.”
Trumka in the letter said the trio’s removal came on the heels of a visit by members of the Department Of Government Efficiency, which had attempted to coerce the commissioners to “bring aboard” two DOGE officials.
“With no regard for the safety and well-being of the American public, the Trump Administration is seeking to dismantle the Consumer Product Safety Commission,” Boyle said in a statement.
“I was fired illegally last night from my Senate-confirmed position as a CPSC Commissioner after I refused to be complicit with the efforts of DOGE to destroy the agency dedicated to protecting our nation’s consumers.”
Boyle, who has worked in some capacity for the agency for 15 years, also took aim at acting chairman Peter Feldman.
“Like the administration he seeks to impress, the Acting Chair – who has neither been nominated nor confirmed as chair — demonstrates contempt for the very workforce he purports to lead, highlighting his unfitness for the position. He has publicly disparaged CPSC staff as ‘bloated’ and ‘inefficient,’ baseless claims that contradict his own past words as commissioner since 2018,” she wrote.
Hoehn-Saric was also confirmed in 2021, while Boyle was appointed a commissioner with the consumer protection watchdog in 2022.
The agency has governance over more than 15,000 household products, including items for babies. It was founded by Congress in 1972 and had a budget in 2024 of $170 million.
“The President’s action is unlawful and is part of this Administration’s efforts to eliminate federal agencies, personnel, and policies that have made Americans safer,” Hoehn-Saric said in a statement on X.
“The Federal Law establishing the CPSC, which has stood for 50 years and is valid under Supreme Court precedent, states that Commissioners can only be removed for malfeasance or neglect of duty. The President cannot credibly accuse me of such behavior,” Hoehn-Saric continued.
Both men have said they intend to go to court over their dismissal from the agency.
“The President would like to end this nation’s long history of independent agencies, so he’s chosen to ignore the law and pretend independence doesn’t exist. I’ll see him in court,” Trumka said in a video statement on Facebook.