Reuters US Domestic
By Michael S. Derby and Howard Schneider
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he was firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over alleged improprieties in obtaining mortgage loans, an unprecedented step that could test the boundaries of presidential power over the independent monetary policy body should it be challenged in court.
Trump said in a letter to Cook, the first African-American woman to serve as head of the Federal Reserve's governing body, that he had “sufficient cause to remove you from your position” because in 2021 Cook indicated on documents for separate mortgage loans on properties in Michigan and Georgia that both were her primary residence where she intended to live.
Cook, appointed to the Fed board in 2022 by former U.S. President Joe Biden, has yet to provide a detailed account of the transactions since questions about them were raised last week by U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency director William Pulte, who referred the matter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi for investigation.
Neither Cook or the Fed had immediate comment.
Though the terms of Fed governors are structured so they outlast the term of a given president, the Federal Reserve Act does allow removal of a sitting governor “for cause,” an aspect of the law that has never been tested by presidents who, particularly since the 1970s, largely have a taken hands-off approach to Fed matters as a way to ensure confidence in U.S. monetary policy.
Trump in the letter accused Cook of having "deceitful and criminal conduct in a financial matter" and said he did not have confidence in her "integrity."
"At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator", he said.
Trump claimed he had the authority to fire Cook under Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
Cook had been defiant about continuing onward at the Fed after the issue first became public last week with Trump calling for her to resign.
"I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet," Cook said on August 20. "I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve, and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts."
Given its unprecedented nature, it is unclear how the matter might play out from here. Members of other independent U.S. agencies who have challenged Trump's efforts to fire them have had to conduct their own legal challenges at their own expense, a potentially costly undertaking with little clarity as to the likely outcome.
The Fed next meets on Sept. 16-17.
Trump's move was greeted with a steepening U.S. Treasury yield curve as yields on 2-year notes - sensitive to near-term Fed policy expectations - quickly fell while yields on longer-dated 10-year notes - sensitive to inflation risks rose briskly.
The reaction reflects expectations that the move may add to the likelihood that the Fed policy rate may drop but at the expense of its commitment to thwart inflation.
Academic research has consistently found that policymakers allowed to manage inflation independent of political influence generally achieve better outcomes, a principle that may now be tested at the world's most influential central bank.
“It speaks to the determination of this administration to remake the Federal Reserve and serves as a warning to the other Biden appointees. The Fed as an institution escaped harm in the first Trump Administration, and will not be so fortunate this time around,” said SGH Macro Advisors’ Tim Duy.
“It’s another reason to believe that the next Fed will have a more dovish reaction function such that rates will be lower than would otherwise be the case.”
Cook took out the mortgages in question in 2021 when she was an academic. An official financial disclosure form for 2024 lists three mortgages held by Cook, with two listed as personal residences. Loans for primary residences can carry lower rates than mortgages on investment properties, which are considered riskier by banks.
The claims against Cook coincide with a broad effort by the Trump administration against diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the U.S. government, a process that has led to the departure of some prominent women and minorities.
The Trump administration has also targeted other political opponents, including U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, with similar accusations of mortgage fraud.
PRESSURE CAMPAIGN
The firing of Cook marked an escalation in Trump's attempt to reshape the makeup of the Fed leadership ranks. He has been pressuring the central bank for aggressive rate cuts at a time when Fed officials have kept them steady amid ongoing worries about inflation.
The president has regularly threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who was nominated by Trump during his first term in the White House and then nominated for a second term by Biden. Trump, who lacks the legal authority to fire the Fed chair except "for cause", has backed away from that threat as Powell gets closer to the expiration of his term next May.
Cook's exit from the Fed - she had been serving in a term that expires in 2038 - could speed up the president's reshaping of the central bank.
Trump recently elevated Fed Governor Michelle Bowman to be the central bank's top bank regulator, and is believed to be considering Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who he named to the board in 2020, to succeed Powell.
Two other Biden appointments on the Fed board have some time left in their terms, while Powell could stay on as a governor until 2028 after the end of his term as head of the central bank.
(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Additional Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Paul Simao, Caitlin Webber, Lincoln Feast and Michael Perry)
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