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 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.