Media Contact
Adam Allington
President Trump said he will fire Lisa Cook from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Trump claimed he had "sufficient cause" to remove Cook, based on accusations that she made false statements on mortgage agreements.
Robert Hockett
Professor of Law
Robert Hockett, is a professor of law and public finance at Cornell Law School, where he focuses on financial and monetary law and economics. He says Trump’s scheme to push out Cook is precisely the kind of political meddling Fed policy was designed to guard against.
Hockett says:
“We have prioritized competence and stability over fleeting and ill-informed 'passions of the moment' in this all-important area. Now, Trump has found yet another pretext on which to attempt to remove a Fed Governor from office and, having failed in trying that strategy with Chair Powell, apparently thinks he has found a 'softer' target in Governor Cook, the first African American woman to serve on the Fed Board.
“He has another thing coming. Fed Governors can be removed only 'for cause,' and as anyone with as checkered a history in real estate as Trump will know, someone's having two primary residences between which to commute is no closer to that than is a family's having two cars.
“If Congress cares about the stability of the dollar, it should censure Trump immediately for this attempted stunt. If it does not, the federal courts will.”
