Corporation for Public Broadcasting Sues Trump After He Fires 3 Board Members

The corporation, which distributes money to public outlets including NPR and PBS, said in its suit that the president has no such power.

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on April 7, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) on April 29 sued President Donald Trump after he fired three of the corporation’s board members.

The nonprofit, established by Congress in 1967, said in the complaint that the president “has no power to remove or terminate CPB’s Board members.”

Taylor Rogers, a spokesman for the White House, told The Epoch Times in an email: “As numerous courts have repeatedly affirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority. The Trump administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

CPB distributes money to more than 1,600 public radio and television stations, such as NPR and PBS.

Trent Morse, a White House official, sent notice on Monday that Trump was firing three members of the CPB board—Laura Ross, Thomas Rothman, and Diane Kaplan—according to the complaint.

“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,” Morse was quoted as saying. “Thank you for your service.”

Congress has said that the CPB is a private corporation that is meant to “facilitate the development of public telecommunications and to afford maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.” It said in the law establishing CPB that the members of the board shall not be officers or employees of the U.S. government, and that no federal department, agency, officer, or employee has ”any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors.”

While a president appoints members of the board, a president does not have the authority to remove a board member, the complaint stated.

“A declaration of rights under the Declaratory Judgment Act is both necessary and appropriate to establish that CPB’s board members, whom the president of the United States has illegally attempted to remove, lawfully remain members of the CPB’s board of directors,” the filing stated.

CPB and the members who Morse said were fired are asking the federal court in Washington to enter a temporary restraining order that would prevent U.S. officials from taking any action to effect the terminations “or otherwise seek to interfere with or control the governance and operations of the CPB.”

Without such an order, they said in a memorandum, the constitutional freedoms enjoyed by CPB and its board members will be violated, and CPB will lack a quorum, which is required for it to take corporate action.

CPB officials also expressed concerns that the government will attempt to seize CPB documents, including financial documents.