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Trump Restarts Effort to Fire Fed’s Lisa Cook
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Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook listens during an open meeting of the Fed Board at the Federal Reserve in Washington on June 25, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)
By Matthew Vadum and Emel Akan
8/7/2026Updated: 8/9/2026

President Donald Trump is trying again to oust Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the firing in June.

According to a letter obtained by The Epoch Times, the White House advised Cook that the president is considering removing her from the Fed board “due to there being sufficient reason to believe that you made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”

The correspondence, dated Aug. 5, signed by Daniel Scavino, director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, asks Cook to “provide a written response with your explanation for your false statements and accompanying evidence within 21 days.”

Cook’s attorneys, Abbe D. Lowell and Norm Eisen, said in a statement that the allegations are “baseless.”

“These allegations are as baseless now as they were a year ago when President Trump tried to remove Governor Cook and interfere with the independence of the Federal Reserve. No matter what President Trump tries to do next, this much is clear under the facts and Supreme Court precedent—there is no valid cause for removing Governor Cook. As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed,” they said.

The Supreme Court in June halted an earlier attempt to fire the governor, saying Trump failed to provide notice and an opportunity for Cook to respond to her termination.

Trump said at the time that he complied with the Federal Reserve Act, saying that the law allows presidents to remove members “for cause.”

It was the first time since 1913, when the central bank was created, that a president had tried to remove a Fed Board member.

The letter states that Cook, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, had known about the allegations since at least August 2025 and has “never provided an explanation for this serious misconduct, despite having ample opportunity to do so.”

The letter recounts the allegation that, in mid-2021, Cook signed mortgage documents claiming two separate properties as her primary residence at about the same time—one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and another in Atlanta—arguing that this may constitute bank fraud, a felony that could lead to a 30-year prison term.

The Trump administration stated that the primary residence declaration was false and that it allowed her to obtain more favorable terms. The administration also alleged that the Atlanta property was later listed as a rental property without proper disclosure of rental income.

“Taken together, these acts may be sufficient to demonstrate that you committed a crime, as you appear to have acquired mortgages that do not meet certain lending requirements and could have received favorable loan terms under fraudulent circumstances,” the letter reads. “You signed two mortgages within two weeks of each other, claiming that both would be your principal place of residence within 60 days.”

The letter states that even if Cook’s conduct falls short of a felony, “it appears to demonstrate a level of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”

This is the second time this week that the president has used workarounds to pursue actions that the nation’s highest court blocked earlier this year.

After the Supreme Court blocked his previous order on birthright citizenship on June 30, Trump issued two executive orders on Aug. 6 to restrict automatic citizenship for ​children born in the United States because of commercial birth tourism and several other factors.

One of the measures bans birth tourism, the practice of traveling to the United States on a tourist visa with the intention of having a child who is given automatic U.S. citizenship.

Trump called it “a big deal” and said during the signing ceremony that birthright citizenship has been made into a joke.

Andrew Moran, Sam Dorman, and Tom Gantert contributed to this report.

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Emel Akan
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Emel Akan is a senior White House correspondent for The Epoch Times, where she covers the policies of the Trump administration. Previously, she reported on the Biden administration and President Donald Trump's first term. Before her journalism career, she worked in investment banking at JPMorgan.