The attorney for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said on Wednesday there are no legal grounds to dismiss her from the central bank’s board, rejecting a recent White House bid to remove her over allegations of mortgage fraud.
Abbe David Lowell, Cook’s lawyer, stated in a letter to the White House that the accusations rely on unproven claims and that Governor Cook has never committed wrongdoing. The letter emphasized that there is no legally valid reason to remove her from the Federal Reserve Board.
The White House had sent Cook a letter on August 5, signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, indicating President Donald Trump was considering her removal due to alleged false statements on mortgage agreements. The letter gave Cook until August 26 to respond, two days before Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s scheduled address at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in Wyoming.
The allegations stem from a referral by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte last August, accusing Cook of mortgage fraud and seeking a 30-year prison sentence. Pulte claimed publicly available mortgage documents showed Cook listed more than one home as her primary residence. However, Cook’s legal team countered that she had informed a lender one of the disputed properties was a vacation home, and a Michigan tax authority confirmed she had not violated rules for primary residence tax breaks.
The dispute follows a June Supreme Court ruling that blocked Trump’s prior attempt to remove Cook, with the court’s 5-4 decision reinforcing protections for Fed officials against politically motivated dismissals. The central bank, now under Warsh’s leadership since May, has reiterated the importance of monetary policy independence to maintain inflation-fighting credibility.
Trump had previously targeted former Fed Chair Jerome Powell for similar reasons, leading to a Justice Department investigation into whether the president pressured Powell to resign over renovations at his Washington home. The current effort against Cook marks the first time a U.S. president has attempted to remove a sitting Fed governor in more than a century of central bank history.
