Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook filed a lawsuit Thursday to block President Donald Trump’s order removing her from the Board, a challenge likely to advance to the Supreme Court.
Cook’s attorney is Abbe Lowell, best known as Hunter Biden’s longtime defense lawyer. In the filing, Lowell called Trump’s action “unprecedented and illegal,” arguing it would mark the first time in history a Fed Governor was ousted without the statutory requirement of proven cause.
Trump announced Monday that he was firing Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud tied to two residential properties. The claims were first raised by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a vocal supporter of Trump’s push for lower interest rates. Pulte sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department, which has opened an investigation.
Lowell’s lawsuit, naming Trump, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and the Board of Governors, asks the court to declare Trump’s termination order void, affirm Cook’s right to remain on the Board, and rule that the mortgage allegations do not constitute legal cause under the Federal Reserve Act. That statute allows a president to remove a governor only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or comparable misconduct.”
