Former White House attorney Ty Cobb leveled sharp criticism Friday at President Trump’s decision to oust the remaining Democratic members of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), calling it a calculated move to sway the upcoming midterm elections.
“You can’t look at the termination of the Election Assistance Commission as anything other than another effort by one side to try to take over part of the referee role for the elections,” Cobb said during an appearance on MS NOW. He argued that Trump is “stacking every card in the deck” to tilt the electoral playing field.
Trump on Thursday removed commissioners Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, both Democrats, from the independent panel. The White House defended the firings by invoking the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Slaughter case, which in a 6-3 ruling gave the president broad authority to dismiss heads of most independent agencies, overturning decades of precedent that shielded such bodies from political interference.
“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted,” a White House official said in a statement. “The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so.”
The purge also included the resignation of Republican commissioner Christy McCormick earlier this week, leaving the EAC without a full complement of members at a critical time. The commission, created in 2002, provides funding, training, and technical assistance to state election officials, certifies voting technology, and processes national voter registration forms.
Democrats and voting rights groups swiftly condemned the move as a thinly veiled attempt to meddle in elections, though experts note the practical impact on this year’s midterms may be limited. Democratic strategist David Axelrod wrote on social media, “All the signals are flashing red, the latest being @POTUS’s summary dismissal of the remaining Federal Election Assistance Commission members.”
Trump has increasingly pushed to “nationalize” election administration, citing unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020 to justify restrictions on mail-in voting, demands for state voter rolls, and requirements for proof of citizenship. These efforts have repeatedly been blocked in federal courts, with judges dismissing numerous lawsuits against mostly Democratic-led states.
Cobb, who has become an outspoken Trump critic since leaving the administration in 2018, acknowledged that courts have been “formidable in withstanding the assault on the rule of law” but warned against complacency. “Those forces are already on the field,” he said. “I don’t think we can be sanguine about the elections because he is stacking every card in the deck that he can get his hands on.”
The president’s actions come amid a broader pattern of asserting executive power, including recent moves to reshape federal agencies. The controversy also echoes earlier disputes over election integrity, such as the standoff over voter ID requirements that led to a housing bill becoming law without Trump's signature.
As the midterms approach, the EAC shake-up has intensified fears that Trump is systematically weakening independent oversight of elections, raising questions about the fairness of the upcoming vote.
