Under the law, presidents can only fire FTC commissioners in the case of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.” As Bedoya says, there’s no indication Trump’s stooges even tried to allege any of those things as a pretext for firing him.

The FTC firings could have an impact on current cases and antitrust suits, such as those against Google, Amazon, and Meta.

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were fired after work Tuesday, they told NBC News in separate interviews.