A federal judge has temporary blocked President Trump from firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook while her lawsuit challenging his action is underway.
Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, DC, issued her ruling late Tuesday, which will enable Cook to continue her duties at the central bank and participate in its rate policy meeting slated for Sept. 16-17.
In her ruling, Cobb stated Cook was “substantially likely” to show that Trump’s effort to remove her based on an accusation of alleged mortgage fraud made by Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte fell short of the Federal Reserve Act’s requirement that officials can only be removed for cause.
“Removal was not meant to be based on the President’s assumptions about the official’s future performance as extrapolated from unproven conduct dating from before they assumed the office,” said Cobb, adding, “The Court finds that permissible cause for removal of a Federal Reserve Governor extends only to concerns about the Board member’s ability to effectively and faithfully execute their statutory duties, in light of events that have occurred while they are in office.”
Trump did not offer an immediate response to the judge’s ruling. Pulte did not directly comment on the ruling, although he used his personal X account to share tweets that attempted to discredit Cobb by pointing out she is a Biden appointee and that she shared membership in the same sorority as Cook.
