White House says Trump won't put Democrats on bipartisan commissions

 Washington Times - President Trump doesn’t plan to appoint any Democrats to decision-making panels such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Election Commission during his second term, The Washington Times has learned. 

He is breaking with more than a century of tradition and challenging the long-accepted legal understanding of how supposedly independent commissions should operate.

Mr. Trump has been telegraphing his plans as he cuts through the government and ousts Democratic appointees from the FEC and the Federal Trade Commission and agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The White House made the policy explicit in response to questions from The Times.

Karoline Leavitt, the president’s press secretary, flatly said “No” when asked whether he would appoint Democrats.

Taylor Rogers, another presidential spokesperson, expanded on the sentiment.

“President Trump has the lawful authority to manage personnel within the executive branch. President Trump will continue to rid the federal government of bad actors unaligned with his commonsense agenda the American people decisively voted for,” she said.