In an interview with Scripps News, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York, expressed strong concerns about President Donald Trump's recent executive order that places independent government agencies under the executive branch's control. Goldman argued that Trump's actions represent an unprecedented extension of executive power, compromising the independence of agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission, which were created by Congress to operate free from political influence.
"Donald Trump wants to put every single thing in the executive branch under his thumb, so that he can use all of the executive branch agencies for his own personal interests and for his own political retribution," Goldman told Scripps News. "It is absolutely lawless in many different ways, including the fact that it has to come back to Congress in order for it not to be independent."
RELATED STORY | Trump's energy secretary admits to 'mistakes' after nuclear worker layoffs
Executive orders have long been used by presidents to implement their agenda. To date, President Trump has signed 70 executive orders. Throughout his entire four-year term, President Joe Biden signed 162.
But Goldman argues that President Trump has gone too far to implement executive orders and has ignored court orders that have temporarily stopped Trump from enacting his orders.
"If we have no rule of law, if court orders cannot be relied upon and cannot be trusted, it doesn't just undermine our government, it undermines every single contract that is entered in this country, and ultimately, it ruins the foundation of our democracy, of our economy, and certainly of our government," he said.
Goldman, who led House Democrats' impeachment trial against President Trump in 2019, said the president has already committed "dozens of impeachable offenses" in his first 30 days in office.
RELATED STORY | Upcoming tariffs: Trump signals 25% fees on key imports beginning in April
The 2019 impeachment inquiry involved President Trump allegedly pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for U.S. military aid. The incident occurred in a phone call between the two leaders three years before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Trump was impeached in a strictly party-line vote in the House of Representatives. Only one Republican, then-Sen. Mitt Romney, supported convicting President Trump in the Senate.
"He's violating the Constitution right, left, and center. The reality is the Republicans control the House and they control the Senate," Goldman said. "And not only are they in control in the majority, and therefore they would have to lead any kind of impeachment investigation, but they have demonstrated such a lack of spine and will and determination to even just uphold their own power. They're giving away their own authority in Congress and just turning it over to Donald Trump."
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
