President Trump opened a new front in a Monday attack on public media and claimed he was removing three of the company’s five board members for public broadcasts. company Prosecuting Trump on Tuesday morning In response, pointing to federal law and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, demanding that he argue that he has no authority to take these actions.

United States District Court Judge Randolph D.

"As many courts have repeatedly confirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove those who exercise their executive powers," White House spokesman Taylor Rogers said in a comment sent to NPR. "The Trump administration is looking forward to the ultimate victory of the issue."

CPB allocates more than $500 million to public broadcasters each year, mainly to local TV and radio stations. PBS and its radio stations receive an average of 15% of the company's revenue; NPR stations receive 10% of the funds from CPB, while NPR itself receives about 1% of the funds directly from CPB. (NPR is received more indirectly, as local member radio stations paid for the NPR for the right to initiate their program.)

exist Laws for Creating CPBs More than fifty years ago, the president had the right to consult with the leaders of the Senate on both sides.

However, the law does not have any power to remove the president. As noted in the CPB lawsuit, the law does not include provisions shared by U.S. government agencies that “serve the president.”

Indeed, the law specifically states that the CPB “will not be an institution or establishment of the U.S. government” and has developed a series of measures aimed at “Providing maximum protection from external interference and control.“

Trump's board members are Tom Rothman and Diane Kaplan, two of whom are appointed by former President Joe Biden, while Laura Gore Ross is the board of directors Trump has appointed in his first term and then reappointed by Biden.

"Not a federal agency"

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also controlled John Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and American Peace Academy. Trump appointed his former chairman and closed the latter. The two organizations are hybrid – Washington Fauna’s platypus: The Kennedy Center is a public-private partner; the Peace Institute is an independent nonprofit company with Defense and State Secretary as a member of the board.

"Public broadcasters are not government entities, and their board members are not government officials. Because the CPB is not a federal agency under the authority of the president, but a private company, we have filed lawsuits to prevent these shootings."

CPB's legal team cited regulations that authorize CPB in its lawsuits, which specifically states that neither U.S. government officials nor employees can serve on the board - no member of the board can be considered a federal employee.

Trump's exhaustive action to remake the federal government and the workforce has inspired a series of lawsuits. In addition to many victories, the White House has suffered numerous failures in court, including Law firms against executive orders and American Voice and Free Asian Radio Seeking funds to restore their network.

Creepy effect

Georgetown law professor Stephen Vladeck said the CPB's lawsuit "has legs."

But he warned those who opposed Trump's actions:

"The Trump administration has not tried to win all these lawsuits," Vladeck said. "Many of its actions are obviously illegal. Many of its actions cannot survive the lawsuit. However, it is designed to intimidate, relax, divert conversations, consume oxygen."

Trump's attack on public broadcasts is part of his broader war in the media, which covers his own private lawsuits, regulatory pressures, limit About the reporter Right to usemass cancellation of news subscriptions used by federal agencies, Zoom protection measures Oppose prosecutors' investigation into journalists and others.

In an interview Atlantic Published this weekTrump praised Amazon's founder and Washington Post Owner Jeff Bezos, Killed the drafted presidential approval Last fall, then Vice President Kamala Harris and Reshape his opinion page Get rid of criticism of Trump.

"He's 100%. He's great," Trump said of Bezos.

From a broader perspective, the independent institutions Trump targets are often platforms for key voices, including nonprofits, foundations and universities.

Public media is best positioned to the president's speech due to taxpayer subsidies.

At a recent U.S. House Subcommittee Hearing The President's Conservative Allies Try to portray public media as a way of playing with liberals and Democrats. However, the CPB CEO is now suing Trump, Patricia de Stacy Harrison, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, George W. Bush.

Two lines of email

News of the president's intentions was sent to three board members Trent Morse, vice president of the president's executive office, in an email Monday night.

It reads in full: "On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I write to you that your position on the public broadcaster has been terminated immediately. Thank you for your service."

As the CPB pointed out in its legal application, the information did not indicate that Trump was invoking the authorities who fired them.

Swear to return funds

The White House emails to CPB board members coincide with Trump's efforts to completely shut down the company. He said he Congress demands $1.1 billion to withdraw It has been granted to public broadcasters that support the country by September 2027.

Once a formal request is received, both the U.S. House and Senate must withdraw these funds in a simple majority within 45 days, called "revocation." Although Republicans who control each room have publicly expressed support, it is not clear whether they have enough support within their ranks to do so. Congress leaders said they have not received the request yet.

Congress’s decision to authorize CPB for two years of funds is a further effort to isolate companies and more generally to protect public media from political pressure. A 1975 House committee report said that advance funds would “eliminate risks and great help to the public broadcasting that are inappropriate interference and control”.

Other government pressures in public media

Trump uses other administration leverage to put pressure on public media. On social media, he repeatedly slammed NPR and PBS to argue that they shouldn't get taxpayers' funds.

Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, his main broadcasting regulator, has opened up Formal investigation of NPR and PBS stations And the practice of running underwriting attractions for corporate sponsors. They are no different from advertising, he said. NPR and PBS and public media stations said they closely followed the guidance received by committee staff over the decades as they were encouraged to expand their revenue streams beyond public inventory.

However, the investigation had an impact, as Carl's agents were responsible for obtaining licenses granted to broadcast on radio waves and could browse the signals using the required non-commercial terrestrial broadcast frequency.

Media Chapter In Heritage Foundation's 2025 project, the blueprint for the second Trump term - rejected by the president on the campaign, followed by his aide once in office - calls on NPR, PBS and public media station "Shorn" to be "Shorn" of its non-commercial status.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Associate Business Editor Emily Kopp and Executive Editor Vickie Walton-James. According to NPR's reporting agreement, no company officials or news executives reviewed the story before it was published publicly.