A member of the U.S. rail regulatory board said he discovered that he had been fired by the Trump administration after returning home from an Amtrak event to unveil new high-speed Acela trains.
“I was just as surprised as anyone else,” former Surface Transportation Board member Robert Primus told CNBC’s Eamon Javers on Thursday in his first broadcast interview since being removed.
Primus said he will fight his ouster.
“I tell people, I’m from Jersey and Jersey folks know how to fight,” said Primus, a Democrat whom President Donald Trump nominated to the STB in 2020 during his first White House term.
The shake-up, which was condemned by two labor unions representing rail workers, is the latest in a recent series of high-profile firings by the Trump administration.
Trump this week moved to fire Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook and Susan Monarez, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both have contested their removals, with Cook suing Trump on Thursday to block her removal.
Primus told CNBC that he was blindsided when he abruptly learned Wednesday that he was losing his job.
“I was discharging my duties yesterday with Amtrak,” as the U.S. passenger rail company introduced the newest iteration of its flagship Acela trains, Primus said.
He said he “went up into New York and back,” and realized when he returned home that his work phone was locked.
“I thought I actually sat on it or did something different to it,” he said.
Primus said he then checked his personal phone and saw an email from a member of the White House Presidential Personnel Office “that basically said … that my position was terminated.”
“No cause was given” in the email, he said.
Primus’ termination comes as the STB is reviewing a proposed $85 billion merger between freight rail rivals Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.
“The timing of this move cannot be ignored,” the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division said in a statement strongly condemning Primus’ termination.
“Prior to it being submitted to the Board, Mr. Primus has made clear his opposition to the so-called ‘merger’ that would be a corporate takeover combining Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railroad,” the union said. “To eliminate a Senate-confirmed position simply because corporate America disagrees with a regulator’s conclusions … is an assault on the independence of federal oversight itself.”
Primus was the only board member to dissent from a March 2023 decision to approve a merger between Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific.
The White House said Thursday that Primus “did not align with the President’s America First agenda.”
“The Administration intends to nominate new, more qualified members to the Surface Transportation Board in short order,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.
But Primus pushed back, telling CNBC, “Anybody who knows me, in the four-and-a-half years that I’ve been on the board, knows that I have been pro-growth, pro-America since I’ve been there.”
Primus had first revealed his termination overnight, writing in a LinkedIn post that the White House’s move was “deeply troubling and legally invalid.”
“Ironically, this comes at a time when the Board is considering significant pressing matters of critical importance to both our national freight rail network and supply chain that would directly affect large swaths of our manufacturing, agricultural, industrial and energy sectors,” Primus wrote.
“With all of this in mind, I plan to continue to discharge my duties as a member of the Board and, if I’m prevented from doing so, I will explore my legal options,” he wrote.
Another labor union, the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, said “STB Member Robert Primus has been a thoughtful leader in carrying forward the Board’s mission to support an efficient, competitive, and economically viable freight rail network that meets the needs of rail shippers.”
“With ongoing talks between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to create a transcontinental railroad, the Board must maintain its commitment to competition, protect rail workers, promote efficient rail service, and carefully weigh the public benefits or losses of a potential merger,” said Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, president and secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO TTD, in a statement.
— CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco contributed to this report.