U.S. sues to remove three CPB board members

The U.S. is suing three CPB board members whom the government says President Trump removed from their posts months ago. 

In April, the deputy director of presidential personnel for the executive office of the president told board members Laura G. Ross, Diane Kaplan and Tom Rothman in an email that their CPB positions were terminated. CPB then sued, arguing that the president does not have authority over the nonprofit corporation.

But in June, a federal judge declined to grant emergency relief that would have temporarily kept the Trump administration from terminating the board members. 

Now the U.S. is suing those board members in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. It is asking for a judgment that the board members “be ousted and excluded” and repay any payments “taken by virtue of their usurpation of office.”

“Despite the Court’s denial of their request for preliminary relief, Defendants have continued to usurp the office of board member of the CPB, including by participating in board meetings, voting on resolutions and other business that comes before the board, and presenting themselves to the public as board members,” Tuesday’s lawsuit said. “All of this is manifestly unlawful.”

U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss wrote in his June ruling that CPB failed to demonstrate that it was likely to prevail on the merits of its claim for injunctive relief or that it was likely to “suffer irreparable harm” without a preliminary injunction. 

On Wednesday, a CPB spokesperson referred Current to the nonprofit’s June 8 press release, which pointed out that Moss recognized CPB’s independence.  

But that press release was also cited by the U.S. in its lawsuit against CPB. 

“Defendants acted as if the Court had ruled in their favor, instead of ruling against them,” the lawsuit said. “Later that day, the CPB defiantly issued a press release stating that ‘the three individuals whom the President purported to remove, Laura G. Ross, Thomas E. Rothman, and Diane Kaplan, are, remain, and shall continue to be directors of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.’”

“… The press release did not acknowledge that the court denied the motion for preliminary injunction and held that the Defendants were not likely to succeed on the merits of their challenge to their removal,” the lawsuit added. 

In May, CPB also amended its bylaws to say that no one, including the president, can remove its directors without a vote of approval from at least two-thirds of the other directors.  

But Tuesday’s lawsuit said the three board members were removed April 28, 17 days before the bylaws were amended. 

“Therefore, even if that amendment were duly adopted and lawful, it could not have affected the validity of the President’s removal of Defendants on April 28, 2025, because it was not then in effect,” the lawsuit said. 

“In other words, Defendants were lawfully removed from the CPB Board long before the Board purportedly amended the bylaws,” the lawsuit said. “Moreover, the amendment was purportedly adopted by the Board that included the three Defendants, who had already been removed from the Board and were then usurping their positions.”