The Trump administration has also filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to dismiss Lisa Cook from her job. She is now a full voting member of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors. This move comes after a nationwide mortgage fraud suit was filed against Cook – a suit that Cook has strongly denied the merits of. The request to remove her comes after an initial attempt by Donald Trump on August 25, 2022, when he first sought to dismiss her from the seven-member board.
Happy birthday to Professor Lisa Cook, who is still embroiled in a federal lawsuit against President Trump. She argues that he lacks the legal basis to fire her lawsuit. She argued that the charges brought against her were baseless and that the President’s actions were politicized. In a late-breaking twist, an appeals panel has ruled against her request to stay the removal. She is not out just yet — at least not for now.
Despite these challenges, Cook participated in a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week, where the committee decided to cut its benchmark overnight lending rate by a quarter percentage point. Her participation in this formative new monetary policy decision underscores her continuing impact at the Federal Reserve. This occurs despite the fact that the removal threat is still very real for her.
Besides Cook’s appointment, the Fed has undergone other changes in leadership. That plan was thrown into disarray when Adriana Kugler unexpectedly resigned in August, offering no explanation. In retaliation, Trump nominated Stephen Miran to fill her seat for the remainder of her term, which ends on January 31. On Tuesday, along party lines, the Senate finally got around to confirming Miran as a non-voting Fed governor. If Cook is eventually ousted, that would make the total number of Trump-nominated members four out of seven on the board.
Cook’s accusations stem from her able to lie about her permanent home place of residence. Each of these declarations made their way into at least two mortgage contracts. Further, D. John Sauer notes that Cook issued contradictory claims in two separate mortgage contracts in the span of one month. She alleged that a property in Michigan and a property in Georgia would be her principal residence simultaneously.
Sauer went on to say that when Cook’s alleged wrongdoing came to light, the President acted responsibly. He figured out that her duplicitous and/or felonious conduct in a jurisdictional money squabble rendered her unworthy to be seated on the Federal Reserve Board. He underscored the fact that this is a case of egregious misappropriation of funds. This casts considerable doubt on her competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.
As the legal saga continues, Lisa Cook’s future as a member of the Federal Reserve Board is in question. Her term hasn’t been clearly marked for an end. This ambiguity is causing a lot of observers to be nervous about its impact on the future direction of the Federal Reserve’s policies and decisions.