President Donald Trump has reopened efforts to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook after a Supreme Court ruling allowed her to remain in office, with the White House now seeking her response to mortgage fraud allegations within 21 days.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump has renewed his effort to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook after the Supreme Court ruled in June that she could remain in her position, with the White House now giving Cook an opportunity to respond to allegations that she committed mortgage fraud.
According to Fox News, Trump’s deputy chief of staff sent Cook a letter informing her that the president is considering removing her from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors based on the allegations. “The letter asks Cook to send responses to allegations that she may have committed mortgage fraud within the next 21 days,” Fox News reported.
The latest move follows a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in June rejecting Trump’s earlier attempt to remove Cook. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, concluding that allowing the president to remove her under the arguments advanced by the administration would weaken the statutory protections governing Federal Reserve officials. “To accept any of those arguments would in effect transform the Federal Reserve’s for-cause protection into at-will employment,” Roberts wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.
Cook had previously sued Trump, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell after Trump fired her last summer. The administration later asked the Supreme Court to intervene after a federal appeals court blocked her removal. In a petition to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General John Sauer argued that lower courts had improperly interfered with the president’s authority to remove members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for cause.
The administration’s case against Cook centers on allegations involving three properties. According to housing regulator Bill Pulte’s first criminal referral, Cook allegedly misrepresented the status of an Atlanta condominium on a mortgage application and falsified bank statements by designating the out-of-state property as her “primary residence.” The referral alleged that she made that designation two weeks after obtaining a loan on a Michigan residence that she had also identified as her “primary residence.”
Pulte sent a second criminal referral last August after Cook was accused of making false representations involving a third property. The allegations remain claims against Cook and do not, by themselves, establish criminal wrongdoing.
Cook’s attorneys have argued against her removal and warned that allowing Trump to fire her could have broader economic consequences, including an inflation crisis. Trump, however, has continued to argue that the allegations raise questions about whether Cook should remain in a position responsible for major decisions affecting U.S. monetary policy.
After the Supreme Court’s June ruling, Trump characterized the decision as procedural and said his administration would continue pursuing the matter. “The Cook Lawsuit, having to do with her suitability in sitting on the Board of the Federal Reserve, was sent back by the Supreme Court on a strictly procedural basis, we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP” Trump said.
The new letter gives Cook 21 days to respond to the allegations and signals that the administration is attempting to build a renewed case for her removal following the Supreme Court’s decision preserving her position.
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