Trump Targets Federal Reserve Governor Cook Over Mortgage Fraud Allegations
US President Donald Trump is once again attempting to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her position. The latest move comes after the Supreme Court ruled in June that Trump did not have the power to dismiss Fed governors 'for any reason, or no reason.'
The White House letter dated August 5 and signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino gives Cook 21 days to respond to unproven allegations of mortgage fraud. Cook has consistently denied these allegations, saying they were an attempt to remove her on a manufactured pretext because she refused to bow to political pressure.
Trump's move to dismiss Cook was the first such attempt by a president in the US central bank's 111-year history. The Supreme Court made special mention of the importance of the Fed's independence and noted that it decided the case 'on the narrow ground that the President failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute.'
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren labeled Trump's latest attempt as him 'once again trying to illegally take over America's central bank.'