Trump fires top US copyright official

President Donald Trump continued a firing spree at the Library of Congress on Saturday when he dismissed the top copyright official in the nation — a position traditionally overseen by the legislative branch.

The White House contacted Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter Saturday afternoon informing her that her job leading the U.S. Copyright Office had been “terminated,” according to internal Library of Congress communications obtained by POLITICO.

Federal law provides that the Register of Copyrights be appointed by and supervised by the Librarian of Congress, which is a position that requires presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. The previous Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, was fired Thursday by the White House with no reason provided in a two sentence email.

Hayden was confirmed by the Senate in 2016 to serve a 10-year term. She appointed Perlmutter, who assumed her position in Oct. 2020.

Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee which oversees the Library of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office, is alleging it is “no coincidence [Trump] acted less than a day after [Perlmutter] refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.”

Perlmutter and her office issued a lengthy report about artificial intelligence that included some questions and concerns about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology, an industry which Musk is heavily involved in.

“This action once again tramples on Congress’s Article One authority and throws a trillion-dollar industry into chaos,” Morelle continued in a statement. “When will my Republican colleagues decide enough is enough?”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ben Jacobs contributed to this report.