Trump Administration Seeks to Fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Again

The Trump administration is moving forward with its efforts to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, despite her recent victory in a Supreme Court decision that allowed her to retain her position. The court ruled in June that Cook could remain on the job while she fights the president's effort to terminate her over mortgage fraud allegations, which she has denied. However, Chief Justice John Roberts noted in a footnote that President Donald Trump is free to try again to fire Cook, provided he gives her proper notice and a chance to contest it.

White House aide Dan Scavino recently sent Cook a letter informing her that the president was considering removing her from her position. The attempt to fire Cook stems from a criminal referral made by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, last August. Pulte accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud by declaring two different homes as her primary residence.

Cook has aggressively defended herself against the allegations, stating that President Trump had attempted to oust her on a 'manufactured pretext' because she refused to bow to political pressure and set interest rates based solely on what would best serve the American people. Her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, argued in a November letter that Cook has mostly lived in one of the properties since first purchasing it in 2005.

Lowell also pointed out that Cook referred to both homes as her primary residence in separate documents, but an earlier mortgage application had listed the Atlanta condo as a vacation home. The latest White House letter largely rehashes the year-old allegations, and Lowell has stated that 'these allegations are as baseless now as they were a year ago when President Trump tried to remove Governor Cook.'