Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook is suing President Donald Trump over his Aug. 25 decision to fire her.
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in the federal district court in Washington, D.C., Cook’s attorneys argue that Trump removing Cook from her role is “unprecedented and illegal.” The lawsuit comes after Trump said Monday that he was firing Cook over mortgage fraud accusations.
Cook’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit that the case “challenges President Trump’s unprecedented and illegal attempt to remove Governor Cook from her position which, if allowed to occur, would [be] the first of its kind in the Board’s history.”
“President Trump’s conception of ’cause’ has no limiting principle,” according to the lawsuit. “It would allow him to remove any Federal Reserve Board member with whom he disagrees about policy based on chalked up allegations.” (RELATED: Fed Governor Defies Trump, Refuses To Step Down After He Says, ‘You’re Fired’)
Lisa Cook, member of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve, attends a Federal Reserve Board open meeting discussing proposed revisions to the board’s supplementary leverage ratio standards at the Federal Reserve Board building in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump’s attempt to remove Cook “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 to her Senate confirmation is not,” the lawsuit claims.
In an Aug. 20 Truth Social post, Trump called for Cook to resign from her role shortly after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte said he would refer her to the Department of Justice (DOJ) over mortgage fraud allegations.
The Federal Reserve Act states that a president can remove a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors only “for cause.”
“The President exercised his lawful authority to remove a governor on the Federal Board of Governors for cause under 12 U.S.C. 242,” White House Spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The President determined there was cause to remove a governor who was credibly accused of lying in financial documents from a highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions. The removal of a governor for cause improves the Federal Reserve Board’s accountability and credibility for both the markets and American people.”
A Federal Reserve Board spokesperson declined to comment.
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