The Justice Department under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the court to enforce the firing of three Corporation of Public Broadcasting board members. File Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo
The Justice Department has asked a court to remove three board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the latest move by the Trump administration to wrest control of the private, non-profit distributor of public media.
President Donald Trump moved to fire Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO and Chairman Thomas Rothman, United States Artists board member Diane Kaplan and former attorney Laura Ross on April 28, days before he issued an executive order directing the nonprofit to cease direct funding to NPR and PBS, calling the news organizations “biased.”
The three CPB board members have fought their removal, suing the Trump administration the next day on the grounds that CPB is not a federal agency subject to the president’s authority.
On June 8, a federal judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction against their removal but did so without prejudice, so they could renew their complaint against the government if it sought to interfere with the independence of CPB.
While the Trump administration views the ruling as a win, CPB issued a statement also celebrating the ruling as upholding the corporation’s independence and declared that Ross, Rothman and Kaplan “are, remain and shall continue to be directors of the board.
In the Justice Department’s Tuesday complaint, prosecutors described the trio of board members as “usurping” and working unlawfully on the board of the CPB since late April, saying they are “defiantly acting as if the court granted the relief the court denied.”
“The United States cannot just stand by when lawful orders — both executive and judicial — are so openly flouted,” the complaint states.
In a statement, the Justice Department argues the complaint is part of the Justice Department’s committing to protecting presidential authorities, including making “personnel decisions regarding those occupying federal offices.”
As a private corporation, authorized by Congress in 1967, CPB helps more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for public radio, television and related online services.
