President Donald Trump said that he’s firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
Trump posted a letter Monday night on his Truth Social platform stating that he is removing Cook effectively immediately related to allegations that she committed mortgage fraud.
RELATED: Trump calls on Fed governor Lisa Cook to resign after mortgage fraud allegation
Federal Reserve governors vote on the central bank’s interest rate decisions and on issues of financial regulation, according to the Associated Press.
Lisa Cook says she’s not resigning
The other side
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said on Monday night that she would not step down. “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in an emailed statement provided to the Associated Press. “I will not resign.”
Bill Pulte, director of the agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, urged the Justice Department to probe Cook, who was appointed to the Fed’s governing board in 2022. She was reappointed the following year to a term that lasts until 2038, the longest remaining term among the seven governors.
Can Trump fire Lisa Cook?
Dig deeper
According to the Associated Press, the law allows a president to fire a Fed governor “for cause,” which means some type of wrongdoing or negligence of duty.
The AP noted that a president cannot fire a governor only because of differences over interest rate policy.
Separately, creating a for-cause removal requires some form of proceeding that would allow Lisa Cook to answer the charges and present evidence, legal experts told the AP, which hasn’t happened in this case.
The Associated Press reported that President Donald Trump has stated that he would only appoint Fed officials who would support lower borrowing costs.
Trump recently named Stephen Miran, a top White House economic adviser, to replace another governor, Adriana Kugler, who stepped down about five months before her term officially ended Aug. 1.
According to the AP, Trump appointed two governors in his first term, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, so replacing Lisa Cook would give Trump appointees a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s board.
Who is Lisa Cook?
The backstory
Lisa Cook was appointed to the Fed’s governing board by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and is the first Black woman to serve as a governor.
Cook was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and she has taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
The Associated Press reported that Cook’s nomination was opposed by most Senate Republicans, and she was approved on a 50-50 vote with the tie broken by then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Source
Information for this story was provided by previous LIVENOW from FOX reporting and the Associated Press, which cites comments from Lisa Cook. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.
