Trump tries—yet again—to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook

On Friday, President Donald Trump announced the creation of a new committee to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, even after those claims were shown to be incorrect, and after the US Supreme Court in June rejected his previous attempts to fire her.

In a written memo, Trump announced that this new committee will hold a hearing at the White House two days after the midterm elections in November and demanded that Cook show up to testify. Trump’s ongoing effort to oust Cook represents the first time the president has tried to fire a member of the Fed’s board in more than a century, since the central bank was established as an independent entity that sets monetary policy free of political influence.

“As President, it is my job to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, including by firing subordinates who cannot be trusted to tell the truth and follow the law,” Trump wrote in the memo. “To assist me in carrying out that responsibility, the Committee shall investigate the allegations against Governor Cook and report to me whether there is ’cause’ for Governor Cook’s removal.”

This is the latest development in a saga that began more than a year ago, when Trump loyalist Bill Pulte—the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)—leveled thin accusations of mortgage fraud against Cook and other prominent Democrats who have clashed with Trump.

Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has fumed that the Fed won’t lower interest rates, a move that would ease the costs of borrowing money for homes and businesses—and make some voters happy ahead of the midterms.

Then, in August 2025, Pulte—a vigorous defender of the president that some have called a “mini-Trump”—claimed in a social media post that Cook had designated two homes as her primary residence simultaneously in order to get a better mortgage rate. Pulte posted screenshots of Cook’s mortgage applications on social media when making these claims, raising questions of whether he was using his position atop the FHFA—which oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—to access private housing loan information on Trump’s political foes.

Pulte referred Cook for criminal prosecution by the Justice Department and Trump piled on, saying the allegation was enough to fire her. But no criminal case ever materialized. Additional loan documents showed that the alleged mortgage fraud was instead probably a clerical error. What’s more, Pulte’s efforts to weaponize mortgage information against Trump’s political foes led to formal scrutiny: The Government Accountability office said it is investigating whether Pulte misused his position to access mortgage data, and the FHFA’s inspector general is also reportedly looking into his conduct.

Reporters also found that Trump himself and others in his cabinet appear to have made similar errors to Cook in their own mortgage applications. Cook sued over the attempt to fire her, and two separate courts blocked her removal. Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, which also said the way he’d tried to fire her was not allowed.

But that Supreme Court ruling did not bar Trump from trying to fire Cook again. Trump has every reason to attempt a redo: American dissatisfaction with the US economy and historic inflation is at an all-time high ahead of November’s elections, and Trump’s appointee to run the Fed, Kevin Warsh, recently raised rates instead of lowering them. Trump’s announcement on Friday appears to be his latest effort to exert some control over the central bank by ousting Cook, which would enable him to appoint a loyalist in her place.