Cook rejected Trump’s bid to oust her, setting up a legal battle that could reshape Fed independence.
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook addressed President Donald Trump’s announcement that he had fired her, saying she would not resign from the Fed’s seven-member board.
Trump on Monday cited alleged mortgage-related misconduct when he said he had fired Cook, who has denied the allegations.
«President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so», Cook said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press. «I will not resign.»Why It Matters
The dispute immediately raised questions about presidential authority to remove a Fed governor «for cause», threatened to test the Federal Reserve’s political independence and signaled a likely court challenge that could reach the Supreme Court—with potential implications for monetary policy and markets.
The Federal Reserve Act allows a president to remove a sitting governor only «for cause», a standard that legal scholars and officials said has not been definitively tested in this context. The move, unprecedented in modern Federal Reserve history, risked politicizing a central bank designed to make decisions insulated from short-term political pressure.
