Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook sued to challenge her removal by President Donald Trump. Trump said Monday that he was firing Cook because of allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. Critics say that the move undermines the independence of the Fed, which sets key interest rates that affect mortgage rates and other debt rates. The case was assigned to Judge Jia Cobb, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden. Lisa Cook, governor of the US Federal Reserve, speaks at the Peterson Institute For International Economics in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
“This case challenges President Trump’s unprecedented and illegal attempt to remove Governor Cook from her position which, if allowed to occur, would the first of its kind in the Board’s history,” Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, wrote in the lawsuit.
“It would subvert the Federal Reserve Act … which explicitly requires a showing of ’cause’ for a Governor’s removal, which an unsubstantiated allegation about private mortgage applications submitted by Governor Cook prior