Lisa Cook files suit against Trump, Powell and Fed Board of Governors

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook filed suit against President Trump in a federal court in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. The lawsuit follows Trump’s announcement on Monday that he was attempting to fire Cook over allegations she committed occupancy fraud by designating two different properties as her primary residence in 2021.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the Board of Governors are named as defendants. The lawsuit states that both are being sued only to the extent that they can “effectuate President Trump’s purported termination of Governor Cook.”

Trump has cited a criminal referral from Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte to Attorney General Pam Bondi over Cook’s 2021 purchases of homes in Michigan and Georgia as cause for Cook to be fired. The Department of Justice has not filed any charges against Cook. Last week, Trump and several allies urged Cook to resign before attempting to fire her Monday.

Cook, a Biden-era appointee, announced her plans to sue Trump earlier this week, arguing that there is no cause. In a statement to CNN on Monday night, Cook said: “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

In the lawsuit’s introduction, Abbe David Lowell, Cook’s attorney, wrote, “This case challenges President Trump’s unprecedented and illegal attempt to remove Governor Cook from her position, which, if allowed to occur, would be the first of its kind in the Board’s history. It would subvert the Federal Reserve Act (“FRA”), which explicitly requires a showing of “cause” for a Governor’s removal, which an unsubstantiated allegation about private mortgage applications submitted by Governor Cook prior to her Senate confirmation is not.”

Cook’s case was assigned to Judge Jia Cobb, also a Biden appointee. Cook’s lawsuit asks the court to void Trump’s removal order, affirm her status as a Fed governor and rule that the mortgage allegations don’t meet the legal standard of “cause,” defined as serious misconduct or neglect of duty.

The complaint also underscores Cook’s historic appointment in 2022 as the first Black woman on the Fed Board, where her term runs until 2038.

In a separate filing on Thursday, CNBC reported that Cook also requested “an emergency temporary restraining order to prevent implementation of President Trump’s August 25, 2025 Truth Social post unlawfully purporting to remove her from her position as a Federal Reserve Board Governor.”

That filing cites several posts on Truth Social from Trump expressing frustration towards the Federal Reserve and Powell for being “unwilling” to cut interest rates. “There is no conceivable interpretation of “for cause” removal protection that would allow the President to fire Governor Cook, either for his true motive or the pretextual one he has invented,” the filing reads.

Cobb announced on Thursday afternoon that a hearing would take place on Friday in Washington federal court at 10 a.m. local time.

Neither Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve or the DOJ responded to HousingWire’s request for comment at the time of publication.

Industry reactions

Jesse Van Tol, the president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), released a statement on Trump’s attempted firing of Cook.

“Dr. Cook deserves due process like anyone else. She also deserves recognition for her incredible achievements, rising to one of the most important jobs in American economics despite being born into the deprivations and violence of the Jim Crow south,” the statement read in part.

“Let’s be clear: This is not about Dr. Cook, not really. President Trump is desperate to expand his own personal power past all lines drawn up in our laws and founding documents, especially where trained professionals attempting to exercise sound policy judgment come to decisions that displease him. He wants the Fed at his beck and call, but rightly fears how markets, employers and trade partners will react to sabotage of the central bank’s firmly codified independence.”

More coverage of this issue:
The battle over rates: Trump vs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell
[Podcast] DaylightAML CEO Bob Simpson on mortgage occupancy fraud