Democrat appointees to board that sends taxpayer funds to NPR, PBS sue Trump after getting the axe

Three Democrat appointees on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) board sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, claiming their termination was illegal.

Board members Laura G. Ross, Thomas E. Rothman, and Diane Kaplan received an email Monday from Trent Morse, the deputy director of presidential personnel for the Executive Office of the President, informing them of their removal, according to the lawsuit.

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is terminated effective immediately,” the email text included in the lawsuit states. “Thank you for your service.”

The CPB, created by Congress created through the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, funds both the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR). Its board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a six-year term.

The CPB urged the court to declare the email “is of no legal effect” because it is a private corporation created by Congress, which did not give the president the authority to remove a board member. Congress intentionally did not set the CPB up as an agency to ensure it “was insulated from partisan governmental interference and control and ensure its autonomy,” the filing states.

“Even the United States Government Manual, which has been published for over 80 years by the National Archives and Records Administration, itself being an executive agency, and which provides information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches, does not even mention the CPB anywhere among its listing of governmental and quasi-governmental agencies covering over 2,000 pages for the obvious reason that CPB is a private, non-profit corporation that is not subject to control by the Executive Branch,” the lawsuit continues.

CPB also claims it faces “credible and urgent threats” as a result of the email, pointing to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff who “forcefully entered and seized control” of the United States Institute of Peace (“USIP”) headquarters in March. However, USIP leadership sabotaged their own building and communications infrastructure in anticipation of DOGE officials arriving, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.

The White House intends to ask Congress to rescind $1.1 billion in funding for CPB, the New York Times reported April 14. Trump wrote on Truth Social in March that NPR and PBS should be defunded, telling Republicans they should not “miss this opportunity to rid our Country of this giant SCAM.”

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