(Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department plans to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, with a top official informing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of the probe and encouraging him to remove her from the board, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
A letter to Powell from Ed Martin, a Justice Department official who has led similar investigations into Senator Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James, said Cook’s case “requires further examination,” Bloomberg reported.
“At this time, I encourage you to remove Ms. Cook from your Board,” Martin wrote. “Do it today before it is too late! After all, no American thinks it is appropriate that she serve during this time with a cloud hanging over her.”
Asked about the report, a Fed spokesperson referred to Cook’s statement on Wednesday, when she said she had no intention of resigning after President Donald Trump called for her to step down on the basis of allegations made by a member of his administration about mortgages she holds in Michigan and Georgia, intensifying Trump’s effort to gain influence over the U.S. central bank.
The Federal Reserve Act provides no authority for a Fed chair to remove another member of the Board of Governors.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Dheeraj Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Franklin Paul)
