Trump’s push to oust Fed’s Lisa Cook unites anti-DEI effort
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s vow to fire Lisa Cook, an economist who is the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, kicked off another tense debate and likely legal battle over a major institution’s independence.
It also marks another potential high-profile ouster of a Black leader from the federal government amid Trump’s broader crusade against diversity and inclusion policies.
Trump’s order to fire Cook aligns with the White House’s effort to expand its power across once ostensibly independent parts of the federal government and broader American economy and society, which critics warn may do long-term damage to trust in the data, policies and processes that undergird American strength. The move would also remove a longtime researcher and advocate for diverse and equitable policymaking from leadership.
On Monday, Trump said he fired Cook after the director of a housing regulatory agency, who the president appointed, alleged Cook committed mortgage fraud. Cook dismisses the firing as legally unfounded.
No resignation
“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” Cook said in a statement to The Associated Press (AP). “I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said Cook “was credibly accused of lying in financial documents from a highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions” and that her removal “improves the Federal Reserve Board’s accountability and credibility for both the markets and American people.”
‘Witch hunt’
Trump’s move drew immediate backlash from Black lawmakers.
“Dr. Lisa Cook is the first Black woman ever to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Donald Trump is trying to remove her without a shred of credible evidence that she has done anything wrong,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement.
The National Urban League, a civil rights group, called Trump’s move a “witch hunt” and condemned the president’s comments about her as “character assassination.”
And the Congressional Black Caucus defended Cook as “a highly respected economist who has dedicated her career to dismantling barriers to innovation and economic participation.”
The caucus denounced Trump’s rhetoric and effort to fire Cook as “a racist, misogynistic, and unlawful attack on the integrity and independence of the Federal Reserve. It is a dangerous attempt to politicize and exert control over the central bank—one that will only continue to damage the economy, harm hardworking Americans, and undermine our credibility on the world stage.”
Cook has taught economics and international relations at Michigan State University, and was previously also on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She was a Marshall Scholar who received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta.
