Beyond 'draining the swamp': How Trump is knocking down checks on presidential power

Andrea Hsu

Carrie Johnson

September 17, 2025 / 2:00 am

It was past Cathy Harris ' bedtime when an email arrived in her inbox on Feb. 10 from someone in the presidential personnel office. She opened it the following morning. It was brief and to the point.

"Thank you for your service. You know, you're fired, basically," Harris said, summarizing the missive.

President Trump was attempting to remove Harris from her seat on the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent, quasi-judicial agency that hears federal employees' appeals of personnel actions taken by the government. The email came despite the fact that Harris' term was not set to expire until 2028, and despite a federal law that dictates

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