The White House has revived its attempt to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board, sending her a letter stating that President Donald Trump is considering firing her over unproven mortgage fraud allegations she denies.
The letter, signed by deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, gives Cook 21 days to respond. It follows a Supreme Court decision in June that allowed her to keep her post while she contests an earlier attempt to dismiss her.
What does the letter say?
It states that the president is considering removing her from her position on the grounds that there is sufficient reason to believe she made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.
The letter notes that the alleged offence carries a sentence of up to 30 years, and says her conduct amounts to negligence bearing on her trustworthiness as a governor.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Letter sent | Week of 3 August 2026 |
| Time to respond | 21 days |
| Supreme Court ruling | 29 June 2026, 5-4 |
| Cook’s term runs to | January 2038 |
Why is Trump trying to fire Lisa Cook?
President Donald Trump has renewed an effort to remove Lisa Cook from the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve, citing allegations that she declared two properties, in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Atlanta, as her primary residence on mortgage applications. The allegations originate in a criminal referral made in August 2025 by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and remain unproven. Cook denies them and says the effort is a pretext for political pressure over interest rate decisions. The White House sent her a letter in early August 2026 giving her 21 days to respond, following a Supreme Court decision on 29 June 2026 that allowed her to remain in post while litigation proceeds. Cook was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022 and is the first Black woman to serve as a Federal Reserve governor. Her term runs to January 2038.
What did the Supreme Court decide?
In a 5-4 decision on 29 June, the justices allowed Cook to remain in post at least while her lawsuit challenging the earlier dismissal proceeds. The administration is appealing a lower court ruling in her favour.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a footnote that nothing prevented the president from trying again, provided Cook was given proper notice and an opportunity to contest it. The new letter appears designed to meet that requirement.
What has Cook said?
Her attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Norm Eisen, said the allegations are as baseless now as they were a year ago, and that they would challenge what they called the latest pretext.
Cook has said the attempt to remove her rests on a manufactured pretext because she declined to bow to political pressure on interest rates. The allegations concern properties in Ann Arbor and Atlanta; buyers can obtain lower rates or smaller deposits on a primary residence than on a second home.
Why it matters beyond one appointment
No president since the Federal Reserve was founded in 1913 has removed a governor. Governors serve 14-year terms and can be dismissed only for cause, a structure designed to insulate interest rate decisions from the electoral cycle.
Trump has pressed publicly for lower rates while the Fed has held them, most recently keeping the benchmark range at 3.5 to 3.75 per cent in July with three governors dissenting in favour of a rise. Removing a governor over conduct unrelated to monetary policy would establish that a president can reach into the board mid-term.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, the senior Democrat on the committee overseeing the Fed, said she would fight the effort. Financial markets have historically treated central bank independence as a condition of stable long-term borrowing costs.
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Sources for this report
The Redline News Desk
The Redline News desk files and edits world reporting. Every story carries the sources it was built from, and corrections are published on the story itself.
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