U.S. President Donald Trump is renewing his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, keeping alive his assault on the central bank’s independence even after the U.S. Supreme Court in June dealt him a significant setback in his bid to remove her earlier this year, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
The White House told Cook in a letter this week that the president was “considering” removing her from her role and demanded she respond to unproven mortgage fraud allegations within three weeks — allegations her attorney called “baseless.”
The White House told Cook in a letter this week that the president was “considering” removing her from her role and demanded she respond to unproven mortgage fraud allegations within three weeks — allegations her attorney called “baseless.”
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The salvo against Cook is the second time this week Trump has restarted an effort to take actions that the Supreme Court blocked earlier this year. Trump earlier this week also issued another order attempting to limit birthright citizenship after the high court ruled against his previous effort to limit who is automatically considered a U.S. citizen.
The letter to Cook, signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and first reported by ABC News, alleged that she committed crimes that could be punishable by up to 30 years in prison and that her conduct constituted negligence that called into question her trustworthiness as a Fed governor.
The salvo against Cook is the second time this week Trump has restarted an effort to take actions that the Supreme Court blocked earlier this year. Trump earlier this week also issued another order attempting to limit birthright citizenship after the high court ruled against his previous effort to limit who is automatically considered a U.S. citizen.
The letter to Cook, signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and first reported by ABC News, alleged that she committed crimes that could be punishable by up to 30 years in prison and that her conduct constituted negligence that called into question her trustworthiness as a Fed governor.
In a statement, Cook’s lawyer said “there is no valid cause” for removing Cook from her position.
“As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed,” attorney Abbe D. Lowell said.
The Federal Reserve and White House had no comment.
Trump last year cited mortgage fraud in trying to fire Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. Cook denied the allegations, calling them a pretext to remove her for monetary policy differences.
