Despite the Supreme Court ruling in Cook’s favor, the Trump administration has doubled down on its attacks against him.
Published August 27, 2026
Federal Reserve President Lisa Cook has warned President Donald Trump’s administration that there is no legal basis to remove her from her central bank leadership position.
The latest statement from his lawyers comes as President Trump reiterates his efforts to remove him from his role, a move widely seen as an attack on the bank’s independence.
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Under U.S. law, the head of the Federal Reserve can only be removed for “cause,” not for political reasons.
President Trump has filed mortgage fraud charges against Cook, the presumptive Democratic nominee, to meet legal standards. But Cook’s lawyers, Abbe David Lowell and Norman Eisen, released a letter Wednesday offering a detailed rebuttal of the president’s claims.
“For the second time in a year, President Trump has explained why there is no legal basis to fire Governor Cook for good cause,” the lawyers said.
“A careless mistake is not fraud. You should know this because the president and one-third of his Cabinet reportedly did the same thing. These attacks on Governor Cook are not about real estate paperwork. They are President Trump’s attempt to force the Federal Reserve to do his will.”
The letter serves as a response to threats from the Trump administration this month.
In an Aug. 5 message, the White House warned that Republican President Donald Trump was considering firing Cook “because we have probable cause to believe that he has made false statements regarding one or more mortgage agreements.” She was given three weeks to respond, until Wednesday.
This is the second time President Trump has used the mortgage fraud charges to try to remove Cook from office.
A year ago, in August 2025, he made a similar accusation, telling reporters, “If she doesn’t resign, I will fire her.” Mr. Cook responded by filing a lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court.
She claimed that the allegations were an excuse to fire her over policy differences.
In a 5-4 decision in June, the high court blocked President Trump from firing Fed directors at will.
No president since the Fed’s creation more than 100 years ago has attempted to oust a Federal Reserve official. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 established certain protections for banks to protect them from outside influences that could damage the economy in the name of political gain.
However, President Trump is seeking to significantly expand his powers during his second term as president.
The Federal Reserve has been one of his targets. He has sought to increase his influence over the bank, particularly by pressuring its members to rapidly lower interest rates that had been raised to combat inflation.
But experts warn that cutting interest rates too quickly could flood U.S. markets with cash and weaken the dollar.
Interest rates were a point of contention with former Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term as governor ended in May. He continues to serve as Governor of the Board.
Powell announced in January that the Trump administration had opened a criminal investigation into his actions related to renovations at the bank’s headquarters.
Powell denounced the investigation as an intimidation tactic. “This is about whether the Fed can continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether monetary policy can be dictated by political pressure or intimidation,” he said in a statement at the time.
In March, a federal judge dismissed two subpoenas related to the investigation, arguing that it was a barely concealed effort to pressure Mr. Powell out of office.
The investigation was ultimately closed in April, just before Powell’s term expired.
