A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a lower judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from firing Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
The two-to-one decision today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected an emergency request from the Trump administration to block a lower court’s ruling that had paused the firing.
The decision means Cook will be able to participate in a meeting this week of the central bank, where officials will weigh whether to cut interest rates, a long-time priority of the Trump administration that has prompted the president to attack the independent financial body.
Trump attempted to fire Cook last month, claiming the official “made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”
The letter cited a criminal referral from William Pulte, a federal housing official, to Attorney General Pam Bondi dated August 15. Pulte claimed Cook declared a property in Michigan as her primary residence in 2021, then declared a property in Georgia as her primary residence weeks later.
Cook, a Biden appointee who has not been charged or convicted with any crime over the allegations, then sued, claiming the move was “illegal” and a pretext to fill the body leading the Federal Reserve with Trump loyalists.
“It is clear from the circumstances surrounding Governor Cook’s purported removal from the Federal Reserve Board that the mortgage allegations against her are pretextual, in order to effectuate her prompt removal and vacate a seat for President Trump to fill and forward his agenda to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve,” her complaint reads.
Cook reportedly referred to one of the properties as a “vacation home” on a 2021 loan estimate, which would undermine the administration’s claims.
The president has repeatedly attacked the Fed for not lowering interest rates, and has sought to influence other usually independent parts of the government’s economic policy apparatus, firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month on claims without evidence she doctored key metrics in a partisan fashion, following a disappointing jobs report.
The appeals court decision about Cook came the same day that the Senate confirmed Stephen Miran, one of the president’s economic advisers, to serve on the Board of Governors.
Miran’s appointment, thanks to a 48-to-47 vote, marks the first time in nearly a century that a White House official will join the board, which is designed to operate independently from presidential control.
