Who is Fed governor Lisa Cook, and can Trump really fire her?

President Donald Trump said he plans to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, an escalatory move in his campaign to assert more control over the U.S. central bank and its leadership. Here’s what to know.

The facts

In a letter to Cook that he posted on Truth Social late Monday, Trump said he would seek to fire Cook immediately, citing his authority to remove Fed governors “for cause.”

The Trump administration has accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud in 2021 by declaring two properties as her primary residence. The allegation has so far been unproven.

Cook in a statement Monday disputed that Trump had the authority to fire her and said she wouldn’t resign.

Background

Trump wants the Fed to substantially lower interest rates to boost the economy. But the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee — a 12-person panel that sets monetary policy and is set up to operate independently of the White House — has so far declined to do so.

Firing Cook could help tilt the balance of power among Fed governors and FOMC members in favor of the Trump administration’s agenda.

Cook is a prominent economist with two bachelor’s degrees and a PhD

Cook is an economist serving a 14-year term as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System that ends Jan. 31, 2038, according to her Fed biography.

Cook is the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. She was appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2022 in a party-line vote that required Vice President Kamala Harris to break a tie.

Cook obtained a bachelor’s degree from Spelman College in Atlanta and a second bachelor’s degree from Oxford University in England, where she was a Marshall scholar. She then completed a PhD in economics at the University of California at Berkeley.

She served as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama and has taught at Michigan State and Harvard universities.

The job of a Fed governor

The seven members of the Board of Governors oversee the Federal Reserve System and take actions toward the goals set out in the Federal Reserve Act of “maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” They are nominated by the president and serve staggered 14-year terms.

The federal agency also oversees the operations of the United States’ 12 Federal Reserve Banks — in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Texas and California — and share with them “the responsibility for supervising and regulating certain financial institutions and activities,” according to the Federal Reserve website.

The president also nominates the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who must be chosen from the existing Fed governors. The term of Chair Jerome H. Powell, whom Trump has repeatedly criticized, ends in May, though he can remain on the Board of Governors until early 2028.

Trump named Stephen Miran, his White House economic adviser, as a temporary appointment to the Fed board this month to replace Fed governor Adriana Kugler, who left her post six months before her term was set to expire next year. No other governor’s term expires during Trump’s second term.

Trump has made unproven allegations against Cook

Trump has made unproven allegations of fraud against Cook, accusing her of describing two properties — a home in Michigan and a condominium in Atlanta — as her primary residence while applying for mortgages in 2021.

Cook has not directly responded to the allegations against her but previously said she was gathering information to answer “any legitimate questions” about her financial history.

If Cook is removed from office, Trump may be able to secure a majority of allies on the Fed board, which has so far resisted calls to lower interest rates. It would also make it easier for Trump to install more administration-friendly heads of the 12 regional Fed banks, who serve on the committee, when they come up for renewal in February.

The president has dismissed other officials he views as insufficiently aligned with his agenda, including the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The case against Cook is the latest example of the Trump administration using allegations of mortgage fraud as a political tool against its adversaries — including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, both of whom have been involved in proceedings against Trump or his administration. James, Schiff and Cook now face criminal probes from the Justice Department.

Can Trump fire Cook?

Section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act states that members of the Fed board “shall hold office for a term of fourteen years from the expiration of the term of his predecessor, unless sooner removed for cause by the President.” But the Act does not define what qualifies as “cause,” which creates a legal gray area.

A 1935 Supreme Court ruling, known as Humphrey’s Executor, established the constitutionality of independent agencies overseen by multimember boards. As a result, presidents can remove Fed governors from independent agencies only if there is cause — generally understood by legal experts to mean malfeasance or some form of dereliction of duty — but this is the first time a president has tried to remove a sitting Fed governor.

This year, the Supreme Court has issued interim rulings allowing Trump to fire several independent regulators without cause — despite the 1935 precedent — arguing in one unsigned majority order that, as “the Constitution vests the executive power in the President … he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf, subject to narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents.”

But the court also stressed that its reasoning did not apply to the Fed, which it described as “a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States.”

Cook says Trump has ‘no authority’ to fire her

Cook denies any cause for her dismissal exists and says she intends to continue in her role.

“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in a statement issued through a spokeswoman, who confirmed Cook had hired an outside attorney. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that Trump’s “reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority. We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”

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Andrew Ackerman and Rachel Siegel contributed to this report.