United States President Donald Trump is seeking to increase control over everything the federal government and its agencies do, and a series of dismissals will show how far he might go in that effort.
Over the course of just three days late last month, the Republican president launched impeachment proceedings against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, and railroad regulator Robert Primus.
The moves underscore Trump's desire to exert influence in sectors typically considered independent of direct political control and could have major consequences for financial markets, health policy and public trust in institutions.
According to experts on presidential powers, the changes could undermine trust in agencies tasked with informing the private sector and providing expertise to the president, while operating outside the realm of any party's politics. If allowed to remain in place, the independence of other institutions could also be called into question, Reuters reports.
"This is something new, in a bad way, and it represents a significant usurpation of power by the president," said Max Stier, president of the public interest advocacy organization Partnership for Public Service. "The president has a lot of power, but there are limits... And today we have a president who recognizes none of those limits."
White House officials have said the president is acting within his legal authority to carry out the program he was elected to lead. The administration said Monarez and Primus were removed because they did not align with Trump's agenda, and that they want the CDC to focus on its core mission.
Monarez, who was sworn into office less than a month ago, has opposed changes to vaccine policy that she believes are inconsistent with scientific evidence, a close aide said. Primus' social media posts have included posts that could be interpreted as critical of Trump administration policies unrelated to rail.
The administration has accused Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud, which she denies. But Trump made it clear there was another motive for her dismissal, saying at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he would soon have a loyalist majority on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, which helps set interest rates that Trump wants lower.
Cook sued Trump and the Federal Reserve, arguing that the unfounded mortgage fraud accusations did not provide a legal basis for her dismissal. Monarez refused to resign. Primus said his dismissal was legally invalid.
Most US presidents have avoided commenting on the work of the Federal Reserve, let alone influencing monetary policy or removing members of its board of governors. Independent central banks around the world are seen as crucial to maintaining a stable global economy, but Trump has often questioned established norms.
"If this ... resolution at the Federal Reserve is allowed to remain in place, then there will be a domino effect," said Jane Manners, an associate professor at Fordham Law School and an expert on presidential powers. "We will no longer have an administrative state in which decision-makers are protected from overt political pressure."
During his seven months in office, Trump has been aggressive in his efforts to dominate not only the federal government, but also the nation's public life.
Last Tuesday, he joined disgruntled customers in publicly demanding that the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain scrap a planned logo change, which the company did later that day. He has sidestepped a longstanding Republican unwritten rule by negotiating deals that would see the U.S. government take a 10% stake in chipmaker Intel and reap the proceeds from the sale of rival Nvidia. He is also seeking new powers over private universities, using their public funding as leverage.
The White House insists that Trump's overall approach is appropriate and defends the dismissal decisions.
"The Donald Trump administration is using every lever of power granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to implement the 'America First' agenda that elected the president," said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers.
"President Trump is keeping his promise to put the interests of the American people above foreign countries, ivory tower academia, unelected bureaucrats, and alienated 'voxsters.'"
Reflecting on the possibility of sending troops to patrol Chicago, which is controlled by Democrats, Trump declared "I have the right to do whatever I want."
Unlike previous ambitious American presidents, from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the current commander-in-chief has so far faced very little opposition from the co-equal branches of government - Congress and the Supreme Court.
He fired officials who were seen as conflicting with his agenda, appointed White House aides to oversee their work, used legal authority to overpower them, and promoted officials like Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pult, who cracked down on his opponents.
"Previous presidents have respected the need for nonpartisan, expert assessments of agencies. 'Nonpartisan, expert assessments' have no place in Trump's view of government. He more or less considers the federal government part of the Trump organization and wants to run it the same way," Daniel Farber, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told Reuters.
The Supreme Court, dominated by a conservative majority, has approved some of Trump's invocations of executive powers, including his right to remove members of nominally independent regulatory agencies.
The court hinted at some limits in a recent ruling, suggesting that such powers may not fully apply to the Federal Reserve. Trump seems willing to put that issue to the test.
Translation: NB
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