Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has taken legal action against former President Donald Trump after he tried to fire her earlier this week. The case sets the stage for a rare and historic fight over the independence of America’s central bank.
Court records show the lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in Washington. The full complaint has not yet been made public.
Trump said Monday that he was removing Cook from her post, accusing her of lying on mortgage applications. He pointed to documents from 2021 in which Cook allegedly listed homes in both Michigan and Georgia as her primary residence. In his letter, Trump argued this gave him “sufficient cause” to dismiss her.
Cook strongly denies the allegations. She has not been charged with any crime. Cook, appointed to the Fed by President Joe Biden in 2022, made history as the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s Board of Governors.
Her lawyer, well-known Washington attorney Abbe Lowell, said Trump has no authority to remove her. Lowell argued that the Fed is designed to be politically independent and that Trump’s attempt “lacks any factual or legal basis.”
The case is now likely to spark intense debate in Washington about how much power a president has over Federal Reserve officials and how firmly the Fed’s independence is protected.