Trump fires member of board overseeing proposed railroad merger, White House says

Robert Primus, 1 of 2 Democratic committee members of an autarkic national regulatory bureau that's considering a proposed $85 cardinal merger betwixt Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroad companies, has been fired, the White House and Primus said Thursday. 

In a post connected LinkedIn Aug. 27, Primus wrote that helium received an email from the White House "purporting" to occurrence him from the Surface Transportation Board (STB). The little email from the White House, reviewed by CBS News, terminated Primus from his presumption without reason.

"My knowing was the reasoning they gave was that I was not, you know, I was not- someway was against their America First efforts," Primus told CBS News. "And my reply is, I'm hard-pressed to find that I was. I mean, I've been pro-growth since I got to the board. I had, I gave a large code astir maturation and economical maturation successful January."

Primus was archetypal nominated by President Trump to the STB successful 2020 and renominated by erstwhile President Joe Biden to service a 2nd word successful 2022 earlier becoming president past year. The Surface Transportation Board oversees regularisation of freight rail, and is authorized to person 5 members, who are confirmed by the Senate. They are appointed to five-year terms. 

In January, Mr. Trump designated Patrick Fuchs arsenic the caller president of the board. With Primus' departure, determination are present lone 3 members connected the board. 

In a connection to CBS News, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that "Robert Primus did not align with the President's America First agenda, and was terminated from his presumption by the White House. The Administration intends to nominate new, much qualified members to the Surface Transportation Board successful abbreviated order."

In effect to the White House's statement, Primus said: "Even successful the remark that they enactment retired contiguous astir supporting the president's-, that's not- they gave nary impervious that I didn't enactment it." He said that nether the STB statutes, "there has to beryllium origin for my termination. Specific origin whether it was I didn't bash my job, whether it was malfeasance. Whatever it is, that has to beryllium raised."

Primus' termination was archetypal reported by The Wall Street Journal.

In Primus' LinkedIn post, helium called the firing "deeply troubling and legally invalid." He besides wrote that "ironically, this comes astatine a clip erstwhile the Board is considering important pressing matters of captious value to some our nationalist freight obstruction web and proviso concatenation that would straight impact ample swaths of our manufacturing, agricultural, concern and vigor sectors."

Primus said helium plans to proceed performing his duties arsenic a committee subordinate and says helium hasn't turned successful his laptop oregon ID. He besides said he's actively pursuing ineligible options to propulsion backmost against his termination.

Some of Primus' posts connected the societal media level person shown him astatine likelihood with the administration. Most recently, helium wrote successful a station 2 weeks agone that helium doesn't hold with the president's determination to deploy the National Guard successful Washington, D.C.

In 2023, helium was the lone committee subordinate to cull the approved Canada Pacific-Kansas City Southern railway companies merger.

Primus admitted that his determination and voiced opinions connected immoderate of the administration's decisions could person been a origin successful his termination.

"Maybe radical did not similar the information that, you know, I really look astatine mergers objectively," Primus said of his determination successful the 2023 merger. "To me, it signals my independence, doesn't amusement that I'm against them. It's conscionable that I'm independent, that I don't person to spell lockstep with Democrats oregon Republicans."

While Mr. Trump has not signaled nonstop enactment for the projected merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, helium repeatedly pushed for deregulation of the railroad manufacture successful his archetypal term.

The 2 companies mean to taxable a merger exertion to STB connected oregon earlier Jan. 29, 2026. The bureau did not respond to a petition for remark connected Primus' termination.