Two Democratic former members of the Federal Trade Commission today sued the Trump administration after being fired last week before their terms expired.

The independent agency, designed to be bipartisan, protects consumers and enforces antitrust laws.

The White House defended the move, saying, quote, the time was right to let these people go.

One of those fired commissioners, Alvaro Badoia, joins me now.

Welcome to the NewsHour.

Thanks for having me.

So the current chairman of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, released a statement after you're firing.

In part, he said this.

I have no doubts about President Trump's constitutional authority to remove commissioners,

which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government. We should say you were appointed by President

Biden back in 2022 to a seven-year term. The new administration says they can pick their own people.

Why do you think they're wrong? Well, let's quote that gentleman, Andrew Ferguson,

because when the Senate asked him the

same question when he was nominated, he as Solicitor General Virginia said the opposite. He said

that the 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent that says we can't be removed without cause was good

law, and only the Supreme Court could overturn it. So I agree with that guy, and that's what we're trying to reiterate and protect today.

So what are you suing for?

What do you hope to see happen as a result of the lawsuit?

It's been a bedrock principle of American law for 100 years

that independent agencies, like the FTCTC are protected by these removal protections.

But it isn't just us. It is the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the SEC. And so in a world where

the president can fire us for no reason at any time, he can also do that to Fed Chair Jerome Powell,

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