The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, accusing it of illegally trying to fire three members of the company’s board.
In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, the media organization said that the White House emailed three of the company’s five directors on Monday, telling them that their positions had been terminated. The administration did not offer any justification for the dismissals.
The lawsuit argues that President Trump does not have the authority to fire directors from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was created by an act of Congress more than a half-century ago. The suit asks the federal court to block the firings.
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not a government entity, and its board members are not government officers,” the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said in a statement. “Because C.P.B. is not a federal agency subject to the president’s authority, but rather a private corporation, we have filed a lawsuit to block these firings.”
Directors for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate for six-year terms. The members of the board were all nominated to their current terms by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
A representative for the White House had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit is the latest sign of tension between Republican politicians and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which spends more than $500 million annually on organizations like PBS, NPR and radio and TV stations across the U.S.
Republicans argue that the government should not fund news programming that they believe has a liberal bias. Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, and Paula Kerger, the chief executive of PBS, both defended their organizations during a fiery congressional hearing in March.
Republicans have threatened to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for decades, but lately that pressure has intensified. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to eliminate taxpayer funding of public media, and the White House is planning to ask lawmakers to claw back more than $1 billion earmarked for public broadcasting in the United States.
According to the lawsuit, the White House’s emails to directors on Monday went to Laura G. Ross, Diane Kaplan and Thomas E. Rothman. The email told them they were being removed “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,” read the email, which according to the lawsuit was sent by Trent Morse, the deputy director of presidential personnel for the executive office of the president. “Thank you for your service.”
Mr. Trump’s efforts to shake up the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting reflects his aggressive approach to remake Washington institutions. The president has made similar attempts at Voice of America and the U.S. Institute of Peace, and both have been met with legal resistance.
In its lawsuit, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting asks the court for a temporary restraining order that prohibits the White House from interfering with the company’s governance or operations. A hearing on the complaint has been scheduled in Washington for Tuesday afternoon.
