President Donald Trump is considering renewing his push to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations amid an ongoing legal debate over the president’s ability to remove members of the independent central bank, FOX Business has learned.
The White House is seeking a response from Cook within the next three weeks about the allegations the administration leveled against her last year.
White House Personnel Office Director Dan Scavino indicated in a letter to Cook this week that the president is considering moving forward with firing her. It asked for a response to the allegations that prompted the president to announce her termination in August 2025, which sparked an ongoing legal battle over his ability to remove Cook from her role at the Federal Reserve.
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The White House’s letter told Cook that she was “hereby provided notice that the President is considering removing you from your position” as a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors.
The letter explained that there is “sufficient reason to believe that you made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements” and requested a written response “with your explanation for your false statements and accompanying evidence within 21 days.”
Earlier this summer, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling that allowed Cook to remain in her role while the case challenging her dismissal plays out.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which indicated the court can’t accept the administration’s argument that it has the ability to “remove a member of the Federal Reserve at any time, for any reason, without any notice before, and without any judicial check after. That would turn for-cause protection into little more than at-will employment.
“To be clear, the ultimate question of whether the President can remove Cook for cause will depend in part on the underlying facts. In this opinion, we have not addressed the facts, as they have yet to be found or analyzed under the relevant legal standards. Rather, we have simply addressed the parties’ arguments about the appropriate legal standards under which the facts must be evaluated,” Roberts’ majority opinion concluded.
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Cook said in a statement after the ruling the case against her “was never about mortgage documents signed years before I became a Federal Reserve governor,” arguing the president sought the remove her from her role using a “manufactured pretext” because she refused to allow politics to influence her decisions regarding monetary policy.
She added that the ruling reinforced the traditional independence of the Fed, which she explained was a “principle that has underpinned sound economic stewardship for generations,” and that her decisions regarding monetary policy are “guided by evidence and independent judgment, free from political interference.”
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The mortgage fraud allegations against Cook were leveled by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department on the subject ahead of Trump’s initial announcement of Cook’s firing last summer.
In his role as federal housing chief, Pulte repeatedly urged then-Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates and called for Powell to resign from the central bank.
Powell ultimately served out the remainder of his term as Fed chair, and he remains a voting member of the Board of Governors after the DOJ pursued a criminal probe against him over the Fed’s renovation project, which was dropped after Republican senators vowed to delay the confirmation of his successor while the probe remained active. After the probe was dropped, the Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as Fed chair in May.
Scavino’s letter to Cook referenced that the Supreme Court “recently determined that you are entitled to notice of the allegations against you and an opportunity to respond prior to your removal.
“The criminal letter and this letter set forth the allegations. This is your opportunity to respond.”
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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.