Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has filed a lawsuit, saying United States President Donald Trump has no power to remove her from office.
Cook’s lawsuit filed on Thursday, August 26, 2025, said Trump violated a federal law allowing the president to remove a Fed governor only for cause when he took the unprecedented step on August 25 of announcing he would fire her.
The Republican president accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud in 2021, a year before she joined the Fed’s governing body.
The case is likely headed to the Supreme Court, where a conservative majority has at least tentatively allowed Trump to fire officials from other agencies but recently signaled that the Fed may qualify for a rare exception from direct control by the president.
Concerns about the Fed’s independence from the White House in setting monetary policy could have a ripple effect throughout the global economy.
Trump sacks Federal Reserve Governor over fraud
The U.S. dollar stumbled against other major currencies after Trump first said he would remove Cook, Reuters reported.
A Fed spokesperson said on Tuesday, before the lawsuit was filed, that the Fed would abide by any court decision.
Cook was appointed to the Fed in 2022 by former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and is the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s governing body.
Trump earlier this year also fired Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to sit on the National Labor Relations Board, which hears private-sector labor disputes.
The president also dismissed a slew of officials from other agencies that have long been treated as independent from the White House.
The Trump administration has also targeted political opponents, including U.S. Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, with similar accusations of mortgage fraud. Schiff and James have denied wrongdoing.
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