Donald Trump moved to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook following allegations that she falsified mortgage documents, a dramatic escalation in the president\u2019s battle to exert more control over the US central bank.<\/p>\n
In a letter posted on Truth Social, Mr Trump said he had \u201csufficient cause\u201d to fire Ms Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed Board in Washington, based on the allegations she made false statements on one or more mortgage loans. The move, which weighed on the dollar, could give Mr Trump another chance to name someone to the Fed board as he repeatedly pressures officials to lower interest rates.<\/p>\n
Ms Cook said Trump has no authority to fire her, and she won\u2019t quit. Ms Cook\u2019s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said they plan to take \u201cwhatever actions are needed to prevent\u201d Mr Trump\u2019s \u201cillegal action.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump purported to fire me \u2018for cause\u2019 when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,\u201d Ms Cook said in a statement released by her attorney. \u201cI will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forcing out Ms Cook, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, would give Mr Trump an opportunity to secure a four-person majority on the Fed\u2019s seven-member Board of Governors. Her term was not set to expire until 2038. The Fed declined to comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,\u201d Mr Trump wrote in the letter sent to Cook on Monday. \u201cIn light of your deceitful and possibly criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Cook, in challenging Trump\u2019s removal order, could immediately seek an injunction reinstating her while litigation moves forward. No charges have been filed against her, though a Justice Department official last week signalled possible plans to investigate her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a kill shot at Fed independence,\u201d said Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. \u201cTrump is saying the Fed is going to do what he wants it to do, by hook or by crook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Financial markets took the news as unwelcome. The Bloomberg Dollar Index, 2-year Treasury yields and S&P 500 futures fell after the announcement, while 10-year Treasury yields edged up.<\/p>\n
While a president has never removed a Fed governor from office, one can do so for cause. Laws that describe \u201cfor cause\u201d generally define the term as encompassing three possibilities: inefficiency; neglect of duty; and malfeasance, meaning wrongdoing, in office.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump had earlier called for Ms Cook\u2019s resignation after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged she lied on loan applications for two properties \u2014 one in Michigan and one in Georgia \u2014 claiming she would use each property as her primary residence to secure more favorable loan terms.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump said it was \u201cinconceivable\u201d that Ms Cook was not aware of requirements in two separate mortgage applications taken out in the same year requiring her to maintain each property as her primary residence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your experience and trustworthiness as a financial regulator,\u201d Mr Trump wrote.<\/p>\n
The Fed\u2019s perceived independence from government whims is a bedrock assumption of US markets, and any change to that perception could weigh on US credit ratings.<\/p>\n
S&P Global Ratings, in a note earlier this month affirming the US at AA+, warned that its sovereign credit rating could \u201ccome under pressure if political developments weigh on the strength of American institutions and the effectiveness of long-term policymaking or independence of the Federal Reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announcement was also met with pushback from Democrats. Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned the legality of the move in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe illegal attempt to fire Lisa Cook is the latest example of a desperate president searching for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans,\u201d Ms Warren said. \u201cIt\u2019s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Trump and the White House have been relentless in their attacks on the Fed this year, arguing high interest rates have added to the government\u2019s financing costs and damaged the housing market.<\/p>\n
Yet the decision to oust Mr Cook sets the stage for a potential legal battle that would constitute uncharted territory for the Fed. In a ruling earlier this year, the Supreme Court signalled it would shield the central bank from the type of at-will removals of board members Mr Trump has undertaken at other independent federal agencies.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump\u2019s announcement comes after the US Department of Justice indicated it planned to investigate Ms Cook, following a criminal referral from Mr Pulte alleging that she may have committed mortgage fraud. That investigation marked the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration both to increase legal scrutiny of Democratic figures and put pressure on the central bank.<\/p>\n
Ms Cook said August 20th, after Mr Pulte initially called on US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate, that she had \u201cno intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet\u201d. She added that she did \u201cintend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Pulte, in a statement posted to social media, thanked Mr Trump for removing Ms Cook. \u201cIf you commit mortgage fraud in America, we will come after you, no matter who you are,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
During her initial confirmation process, Ms Cook faced intense scrutiny from Republican lawmakers and conservative media outlets who accused her of misrepresenting parts of her resume and tried to use that to sink her nomination. She strongly denied the allegations and was confirmed on a party-line vote in the Senate, with then-Vice President Kamala Harris stepping in to break the 50-50 tie.<\/p>\n
Ms Cook has expressed worry over inflation and tariffs this year, but also said in early August that the July jobs report was \u201cconcerning\u201d and could indicate a potential turning point for the US economy.<\/p>\n
Fed officials have held their benchmark rate steady so far in 2025 in defiance of Trump amid concerns that tariffs and other policies will fuel inflation, though on Friday Fed Chair Jerome Powell signalled policymakers may cut rates when they meet in September due to rising risks to the labor market. – Bloomberg <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump moved to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook following allegations that she falsified mortgage documents, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,629,19,17,20072,187],"class_list":{"0":"post-23770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-fed","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-lisa-cook","14":"tag-trump"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}