Trump initiates new effort to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
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The White House has sent a letter to Governor Lisa Cook indicating the president is pursuing her removal from the Federal Reserve Board, citing alleged mortgage-fraud misconduct, despite a Supreme Court decision that limited the president’s authority to fire Fed members without due process.
The White House notified Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook that President Donald Trump is "considering" her removal and gave her three weeks to respond to allegations of mortgage-fraud misconduct, according to sources familiar with the letter. The move follows a June Supreme Court ruling that upheld procedural safeguards for removing Fed governors, stating that a governor must receive notice and an opportunity to answer charges before removal "for cause" can be finalized.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the Court’s decision left the door open for the president to act, but emphasized that any final decision must await a response to the allegations. President Trump later posted on social media that he would "take appropriate action immediately" to ensure that a person he described as having "committed wrongdoing" would not serve on the board.
The letter, reportedly signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, alleges that Cook’s conduct amounts to "gross negligence" and could carry a prison term of up to 30 years, though the accusations have not been tested in court. Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, called the allegations "baseless" and said the administration will challenge the effort in court. Cook herself denied any wrongdoing, saying the attempt to remove her is a "manufactured pretext" linked to her monetary-policy decisions.
The allegations stem from referrals made by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who has previously filed criminal referrals against political opponents of the president. A Department of Justice official also urged Fed Chair Jerome Powell to remove Cook, describing the situation as a "cloud" over her service. Earlier legal challenges to Trump’s attempts to fire Cook were rejected by a federal district judge and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court’s narrow ruling reaffirmed the Federal Reserve’s independence, noting that any change to the removal process must come from Congress.