Lisa Cook sues Trump over firing attempt, emergency hearing set

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire her, setting up a legal battle over the independence of the U.S. central bank.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington with an emergency hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, has been assigned to the case.

Cook’s legal action follows Trump’s Monday announcement that he was firing her over allegations she lied on mortgage applications. The president claimed in his letter that he had "sufficient cause" to remove Cook, citing 2021 mortgage documents where she allegedly indicated properties in both Michigan and Georgia were primary residences.

In her lawsuit, Cook argues that Trump violated federal law that allows him to remove a Fed governor only "for cause." She has filed a motion seeking a temporary restraining order declaring Trump’s effort unlawful and to bar the Fed from taking steps to remove her pending further litigation.

"The President would not have ’cause’ to remove a Federal Reserve Governor even if he possessed smoking gun evidence that she jaywalked in college," Cook’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. The filing also accuses Trump of violating her right to due process under the U.S. Constitution by firing her without notice or a hearing.

Cook’s lawyers suggested that an unintentional "clerical error" may have been behind the mortgage dispute. They argued that if there were errors, she didn’t mean to deceive anyone, and no one was harmed. The potential that Cook "mislabeled a home’s purpose on a mortgage application well before her Board appointment without any allegation of its intentionality or materiality would not be the type of ’offense’ that would constitute ’cause’" for her removal, according to the court filing.

Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime. She maintains that even if she had committed mortgage fraud, which she denies, it would not justify her removal.

Prominent Washington attorney Abbe Lowell, who is representing Cook, stated on Tuesday that Trump lacks the authority to remove Cook from the politically independent Federal Reserve, adding that the president’s attempt "lacks any factual or legal basis."

Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve’s governing body by President Biden in 2022 and is the first African-American woman to serve in this capacity.