Trump resurrects effort to FIRE sitting Fed Reserve Governor Lisa Cook… after the Supreme Court saved her job

By STEPHEN M. LEPORE, US SENIOR REPORTER Published: 02:16, 8 August 2026 | Updated: 02:16, 8 August 2026 Donald Trump has revived his efforts to fire sitting Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook after the Supreme Court blocked his previous attempt in June.  Cook, who was nominated to the Fed´s Board of Governors by Joe Biden, has been a target of Trump as he attempts to have enough governors to exert full control on the nation's central bank. After the justices in a 5-4 decision in June said Cook could remain in her post at least as long as her lawsuit challenging her firing goes on, the Trump administration is appealing a lower-court ruling in Cook´s favor.  White House aide Dan Scavino wrote a letter to Cook this week telling her that Trump was 'considering removing you from your position' but cited the Supreme Court's requirement of proper notice in giving her until August 26 to challenge it. The attempt to fire Cook is rooted in a criminal referral made last August by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, that accused her of committing mortgage fraud by declaring two different homes, one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and one in Atlanta, as 'primary residence.´´  Homebuyers can get lower mortgage rates or smaller down payments on their primary homes compared to second or vacation homes. Cook has aggressively defended herself against the allegations, saying the president had attempted to oust her 'on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based only on what would best serve the American people.' Abbe Lowell, Cook's attorney, told CNN that they had been expecting Trump to go after her again. Donald Trump has revived his efforts to fire sitting Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook after the Supreme Court blocked his previous attempt in June Cook (pictured), who was nominated to the Fed´s Board of Governors by Joe Biden , has been a target of Trump as he attempts to have enough governors to exert full control on the nation's central bank 'If you know anything about President Trump... he doesn't take no for an answer whether the no is an advisor or the Supreme Court, so this is not a shock,' Lowell said.  Lowell also believes that Trump came after her in response to Cook criticizing the most recent jobs report and arguing that the administration wasn't doing enough to fight inflation. 'The timing is a little suspicious. Having said that, all Lisa Cook has been doing is her job, that the Supreme Court said, that the Federal Reserve should remain an independent economic entity, that does not sit well with President Trump.'  Lowell also said that the allegations against Cook 'do not amount' to grounds to remove Cook for cause and that they plan to prove that publicly.  'Not withstanding their allegation, I can unequivocally state that there is not a chance Governor Cook committed mortgage fraud.' The June ruling to prevent Trump from firing Cook was 5-4, with conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joining the liberals, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Trump became the first president in the nearly 112-year history of the Federal Reserve to attempt to fire a sitting governor.  Members of the Fed, by law, are shielded from being fired without cause, allowing the body to operate largely outside of political pressures. Lisa Cook, governor of the US Federal Reserve, shakes hands with Jerome Powell after being sworn in to office The June ruling to prevent Trump from firing Cook was 5-4, with conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joining the liberals - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson  The Justices ruled that Trump could not immediately fire Cook from the Fed's Board of Governors, which he attempted to do last August, after his housing czar accused Cook of mortgage fraud. No charges have been brought against Cook to date, and her lawyers blasted the misconduct claim as both 'unprecedented and illegal,' and a thinly veiled effort by Trump to wrest more control over the Fed and pressure its members to lower benchmark interest rates. The Trump administration's top lawyer, John Sauer, struggled to find sympathy with members of the high court during oral arguments this year, in an early indication of how the court might rule. Justices grilled Sauer about Trump's attempt to abruptly fire Cook without notice and without the ability for her to contest her removal. Even Trump's own nominees seemed inclined to keep Cook in place. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said allowing Cook to be removed abruptly would not leave room for judicial review, due process, or remedy, should Cook wish to challenge the basis of her removal. 'There's a very low bar for cause, and one that the President alone determines,' Kavanaugh told Sauer. 'And that would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve that we just discussed.' 'No court has ever explored those facts,' Justice Samuel Alito said of the allegations against Cook, citing concerns about the 'very hurried manner' Trump went about calling for her removal. The Supreme Court's decision to keep Cook remain in place on the Fed board while it reviewed the case was itself significant.  In recent months, justices have overwhelmingly sided with Trump on emergency stay requests while underlying cases moved forward, including allowing the removal of other quasi-independent agencies. For Trump, the day was not a total loss. The Supreme Court also green-lit the President's effort to fire Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, overturning more than 90 years of high court precedent set in The 6-3 ruling gives Trump, and future presidents, significantly more power to reshape the boards of dozens of multimember federal agencies – including the National Labor Relations Board, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and others.  'If anything more is left of Humphrey's, we overrule it,' Roberts said, writing for the majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned a lengthy dissent, which she read aloud from the bench. 'Today,' Sotomayor wrote, the court 'discards [the] democratic regime created by the Constitution … in favor of one that distorts the structure of Government to fit the majority's theory of unitary, total executive control.' 'The result,' she concluded, 'is a President who emerges with far greater power than ever before.'