Trump Fires Democrats from Privacy Oversight Board (Correct)

President Donald Trump on Monday terminated three Democrats from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, as part of the president’s sweeping recalibration of government entities aimed at internal transparency.

The terminations include chair Sharon Bradford Franklin and commissioners Ed Felten and Travis LeBlanc, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board spokesperson Alan Silverleib confirmed in a statement. Removals from the board, which already has an open Republican seat, could also signal an extended period of dormancy for the independent watchdog.

Leblanc called the decision a “setback” for government transparency.

“Today, I regret that the Board’s partisan shift will ultimately undermine not only the mission of the agency, but public trust and confidence in the ability of the government to honor privacy rights, respect civil liberties, honestly inform the public, and follow the law,” LeBlanc said in a statement. “Oversight is tough work, but it is absolutely essential to accountability in a democracy.”

Trump vowed to fire the Democrats if they didn’t resign by Jan. 23, an unprecedented political interference with the board overseeing certain federal spying authorities and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The decision comes days after Trump fired at least a dozen inspectors general at federal agencies in a sudden late-night purge of officials assigned to investigate the government.

If the transcontinental partnership is struck down, it could bring companies’ years-long compliance efforts back to square one. While PCLOB staff can continue to work on open investigations, it cannot initiate new investigations or reports without a three-person quorum.

Bradford Franklin, whose term would have expired this week, echoed LeBlanc.

“I am extremely distressed by the attack on our agency’s independence and the fact that our agency will now go into a sub-quorum period,” she told Bloomberg Law.

Felten confirmed his termination in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The PCLOB still has “significant ability to continue functioning with its full staff,” Silverlieb said in a statement. The board will continue its “important mission, including its advice and oversight functions, and its current projects,” while relying on Beth Williams, its only current Republican, until new members are nominated and confirmed, he said.

The board’s next set of members must come from “different political parties,” according to the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, under which the PCLOB was established.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s plans for new nominees.