Cook said in response: “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so.”
President Donald Trump on Monday said he is firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, escalating his pressure campaign on the Central Bank to lower interest rates.
In a social media post, Trump shared a letter addressed to Cook asserting the Department of Justice’s inquiry into whether Cook lied on mortgage applications amounted to “sufficient cause” to remove her from the fed board.
Cook was nominated to her role by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2022. She was previously was a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University and served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
“The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump said in the letter. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”