Trump Set to Renew Push to Fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook
President Donald Trump is considering renewing his push to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations. The White House has given Cook three weeks to respond to the allegations, which were first leveled against her last year.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that Cook can remain in her role while a legal challenge plays out, blocking Trump's initial attempt to fire her. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the court cannot accept the administration's argument that it has the ability to remove a Fed member at any time for any reason without notice or judicial check.
Cook has maintained that she was unfairly targeted and that the president sought to remove her using a 'manufactured pretext' because she refused to allow politics to influence her decisions on monetary policy. The mortgage fraud allegations against Cook were leveled by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department ahead of Trump's initial announcement of Cook's firing last summer.