President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Jan. 27, 2025, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt listens. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
"The President's action undermines the stability and continuity of the EEOC's critical work to advance equal opportunity and fair treatment," she said.
In removing her, Samuels said, the White House "also critiqued my views on DEIA initiatives and sex discrimination, further misconstruing the basic principles of equal employment opportunity."
The ex-commissioner argued that DEI initiatives "protect all people on the basis of race, sex, gender and religious belief, and other characteristics," but the Trump administration has contended the so-called protections ushered in by the Biden administration actually veer into discrimination. For example, the EEOC last April published guidance describing how an employer could be found liable for harassment if they mandate an employee use a bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex, prompting backlash.
"This Administration's demonization of transgender individuals is both cruel and inconsistent with the law," Samuels wrote Tuesday.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment Wednesday.
Charlotte Burrows, chair of The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) poses for a photo at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., on May 14, 2021. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)
The EEOC panel investigates and imposes penalties on employers found to have violated laws that protect workers from racial, gender, disability and other forms of discrimination. The agency also writes influential rules and guidelines for how anti-discrimination laws should be implemented, and conducts workplace outreach and training.
In recent years, the agency's Democratic and Republican commissioners have been sharply divided on many issues. Both Republican commissioners voted against new guidelines last year stating that "misgendering" transgender employees, or denying access to a bathroom consistent with their gender identity, would violate anti-discrimination laws. The Republican commissioners also voted against regulations stating that employers must give workers time off and other accommodations for abortions under the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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National Labor Relations Board member Gynne A. Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo were also fired late Monday night, the agency confirmed.
Wilcox was the first Black woman to serve on the Board since its inception in 1935, according to the NLRB website.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-fires-two-democratic-commissioners-civil-rights-enforcement-agency-white-house-targets-dei