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President Donald Trump is renewing his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, according to letters seen by multiple news outlets, despite a Supreme Court ruling in June that blocked his previous attempt to remove her. The White House sent Cook a letter this week stating that the president was "considering" removing her from her role, and demanding she respond to unproven mortgage fraud allegations within three weeks.

Coverage comparison

The Guardian reported that the White House letter accused Cook of falling "well short of the standard" required of a sitting Fed governor and requested a written response to the allegations within three weeks. The South China Morning Post, citing a letter seen by Reuters, said the letter was signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and was first reported by ABC News. According to that report, the letter alleged that Cook committed crimes punishable by up to 30 years in prison and that her conduct constituted negligence calling into question her trustworthiness as a Fed governor.

The Hindu reported that the Supreme Court's June decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, said Trump "failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute." The ruling, decided 5-4, blocked Trump's bid to become the first president to remove a Fed official since the central bank was created in 1913. Conservative Chief Justice Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court's three liberal justices in the majority; conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett dissented.

Key claims

  • The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in June that Lisa Cook was entitled to stay on as Fed governor while she fights the president's allegations. The majority opinion stated that Trump "failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute."
  • The Federal Reserve Act requires governors to be removed only "for cause," as Chief Justice Roberts noted in the ruling. Cook was appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022 to a 14-year term ending in 2038; she is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor.
  • Trump cited unproven mortgage fraud allegations in his attempt to oust Cook, both in his initial effort last summer and in the new White House letter.
  • The White House letter demanded that Cook respond to the allegations within three weeks.
  • In a separate but related matter, The Hindu reported that the Supreme Court backed Trump's firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission.
Cook's lawyer, Abbe D. Lowell, called the allegations "as baseless now as they were a year ago when President Trump tried to remove Governor Cook and interfere with the independence of the Federal Reserve." In a statement, Lowell said: "No matter what President Trump tries to do next, this much is clear under the facts and Supreme Court precedent – there is no valid cause for removing Governor Cook. As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed."

In her own statement following the Supreme Court's June ruling, Cook welcomed the decision, saying it affirms the Fed's obligation to make policy decisions independently, free from political interference. "This was never about mortgage documents signed years before I became a Federal Reserve governor," she said. "It was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based only on what would best serve the American people."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to The Guardian.

The South China Morning Post noted that this is the second time this week Trump has restarted an effort to take actions that the Supreme Court blocked earlier this year; the other involves an order attempting to limit birthright citizenship.