*

Republican FTC chairman defends move, says agency

committed to

mission

*

Critics say firings invite corruption

*

Ousted commissioners plan to sue

(Adds quote from FTC chairman background in paragraphs 8-10 and

context on the FTC's cases in paragraphs 14-22)

By Jody Godoy

NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump

fired two Democratic commissioners at the U.S. Federal Trade

Commission on Tuesday, in another major test of the independence

of regulatory agencies.

A White House official confirmed the firings of Democratic

Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter after

they were first reported by Reuters, but had no additional

comment.

The firings drew sharp criticism from Democratic senators

and antimonopoly groups concerned that the move was designed to

remove opposition within the agency to big corporations.

"Illegally gutting the Commission will empower fraudsters

and monopolists, and consumers will pay the price," said Senator

Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, in a statement.

The FTC enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws, and

has a bipartisan structure where no more than three of the five

commissioners can come from the same party.

Both Bedoya and Slaughter plan to sue to reverse the

firings. "This is corruption plain and simple," Bedoya said in

a statement on X.

Slaughter said in a statement: "The President illegally

fired me from my position as a Federal Trade Commissioner,

violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme

Court precedent."

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, a Republican appointed to the

commission last year by then-President Joe Biden and named

chairman by Trump, said on Tuesday he has "no doubts" about

Trump's constitutional authority to remove commissioners, "which

is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our

government."

"The Federal Trade Commission will continue its tireless

work to protect consumers, lower prices, and police

anticompetitive behavior," Ferguson said on X.

Mark Meador, Trump's pick as the third Republican on the

commission, has not yet been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. It

was unclear if the Trump administration planned to nominate

replacement commissioners for the two who were fired. The FTC

can bring or dismiss cases with only two commissioners.

WHITE HOUSE CONTROL

Trump has already sparked lawsuits by firing members of

other independent agencies including the National Labor

Relations Board.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1935 upheld a law allowing the

firing of FTC commissioners only for good cause, such as

neglecting their duties. The ruling shields several independent,

bipartisan multi-member agencies from direct White House

control.

Two federal judges in Washington, D.C., have said Trump's

firing of NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection

Board Member Cathy Harris violated federal law.

The Trump administration has embraced an expansive view of

presidential power, and an executive order on February 18 gave

the White House greater control over independent agencies.

The firings may complicate Ferguson's bid to show the FTC

remains committed to protecting consumers and competition in

U.S. markets.

Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, the other Republican on the

commission, and Ferguson were recused in the FTC's case accusing

the three largest pharmacy benefit managers of steering diabetes

patients towards higher priced insulin so they could reap

millions of dollars in rebates from pharmaceutical companies.

The recusals raise uncertainty about how the FTC will manage

the case going forward.

Klobuchar told Reuters on Tuesday that while she supported

Meador's nomination before, she will not now.

"I don't understand why when they are firing people we would

ever support their commissioners again," she said.

Ferguson has reiterated the agency's commitment to policing

Big Tech companies.

The agency is gearing up for trials in a case against

Meta Platforms ( META ) and two cases against Amazon ( AMZN ).

It is also enforcing privacy-related settlements with Meta and

X.