Trump Sparks Constitutional Fight With Attempted Fed Dismissal

Trump Sparks Constitutional Fight With Attempted Fed Dismissal
  • calendar_today August 22, 2025
  • News

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Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook is refusing to step down even after President Donald Trump sent a letter to her saying she had been “removed” from her post, effective immediately.”

In the letter, which the president posted to Truth Social, Trump wrote that “Under the United States Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, I may remove any Governors appointed to the Board of the Federal Reserve for cause.” He added that “Based on information received by the Office of the President, and a reasonable determination of the credibility of that information, there is sufficient reason to believe that Lisa Cook has made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements, in violation of federal law, and your actions in this regard have compromised your ability to serve as a Fed Governor.”

“This is a political attack against a former member of President Biden’s economic team and an expert economist. She should not be in this crosshairs,” a Biden campaign spokesperson told Axios.

Fox News Digital contacted the White House and Cook for comment.

Trump shared the letter to Cook on Friday, five days after he first called for her resignation on Truth Social.

Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve Board in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden. In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Cook shot back at the president, saying that “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

Cook is being represented by Abbe Lowell, a lawyer who has represented Hunter Biden and New York Attorney General Letitia James, as well as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Lowell released a statement in response to Trump’s letter, saying that “President Trump has taken to social media to once again ‘fire by tweet,’ and once again his 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.”

FOX Business reached out to the Federal Reserve for comment. A Fed spokesperson did not immediately respond.

Later on Friday, Lowell said that he would be filing a lawsuit to formally challenge Trump’s move.

“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis. We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action,” he said.

Leading Democrats jumped to Cook’s defense, calling Trump’s move “unconstitutional” and a political power grab.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., all released statements denouncing Trump’s letter.

“This is an authoritarian power grab by the president of the United States. Trump is desperately looking for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans, and firing Lisa Cook is his latest move. Governor Cook is a respected economist and public servant and should not be under attack by the president of the United States,” Warren said.

Jeffries said in a statement that there is “not a shred of credible evidence that she has done anything wrong” and that Cook is “an accomplished public servant.”

He added, “To the extent anyone is unfit to serve in a position of responsibility because of deceitful and potentially criminal conduct, it is the current occupant of the White House. The American people are not buying your phony projection and slander of a distinguished public servant.”

Raskin told Axios, “What an outrage and a scandal. This is the big one constitutionally.”

Trump first threatened to fire Powell, who was appointed by former President Trump and also currently sits on the Fed Board, and has since expressed dissatisfaction with the central bank’s interest rate hikes, which have increased the cost of servicing the national debt and weighed on the economy.

The Treasury Department projects that the government will have to borrow more than $1.8 trillion in 2023, just to cover interest payments on the debt.

The $37 trillion national debt has now exceeded the size of the entire U.S. economy.

Powell is expected to speak at the Jackson Hole summit in Wyoming next week.