Judge temporarily blocks Trump from firing Fed Governor Cook
A federal judge temporarily prevented President Donald Trump from dismissing Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve Governor, a part of the board of directors responsible for determining US interest rates.
It points to an early setback for the White House in an unprecedented legal war on the independence of the Central Bank.
In August, Trump said he dismissed Mrs. Cook, but the Fed remained as governor.
However, the preliminary decision does not solve the key issue that Trump’s claim that Cook made a mortgage fraud before he took office, that there is enough reason for the removal of the role.
The federal reserve refused to comment on the decision, but he said he would follow the court’s decision before.
BBC contacted the White House for comment.
“This decision recognizes and confirms the importance of protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve from illegal political intervention,” said in a statement sent to the BBC. He said.
“Governor Cook will continue to perform sworn duties as a senate approved board of directors.”
Trump and Federal Housing and Finance Authority Director William Pulte, MS Cook’s mortgage applications to get lower interest rates and tax loans to get three different properties, he said.
At the end of last month, Mrs. Cook filed a lawsuit against Trump for an attempt to expel him by creating a potential legal war that had an impact on the autonomy of the US Federal Reserve.
Cook asked the court to declare Trump’s ignition order as “illegal and invalid”.
The law, which created the FED, says the governors can only be abolished for “reason”, but what it means, or how it doesn’t define how it can be done in practice.
For the first time, a President tried to expel a Fed governor, and the law has not been tested in court yet.
Regional judge, Jia Cobb, wrote in the preliminary decision, “the best reading of the provision of the reason for ‘is that a governor’s behavior and legal duties are limited to loyalty and effectively.”
“‘Reason’, therefore, does not think of lifting an individual for behaviors that occur before he starts task.”
The case, which is likely to take place in the US Supreme Court, is very important for the Central Bank’s ability to determine interest rates without political impact.
The decision on Tuesday, the Central Bank is expected to meet next week and announced its first interest rate since September 2024.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Fed’s leadership, including President Jerome Powell, and called on to reduce borrowing costs to help increase the US economy.
