President Trump is reviving his effort to oust Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, with the White House giving her several weeks to answer mortgage-fraud allegations in the wake of comments from her voicing support of hiking interest rates.
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino told Cook in a letter dated Wednesday that Trump is “considering” removing her and that there is “sufficient reason to believe that you made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements,” according to a copy of the missive obtained by The Post.
Scavino, who also heads the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, demanded Cook provide an “explanation for your false statements and accompanying evidence” within three weeks.
The letter marks Trump’s latest attempt to remove Cook after the Supreme Court in June blocked his initial firing in a 5-4 decision — while leaving the door open for the president to try again if he gives her notice and an opportunity to respond.
“Only after Cook has had the opportunity to respond to the charges made against her … may a final decision be made,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the June 29 decision, according to the reporting materials. “And only then can the courts assess the validity and sufficiency of such charges.”
Scavino specifically said the new letter was sent “pursuant to the Supreme Court’s opinion.”
Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, vowed another court fight.
“These allegations are as baseless now as they were a year ago when President Trump tried to remove Governor Cook and interfere with the independence of the Federal Reserve,” Lowell told The Post on Friday.
“No matter what President Trump tries to do next, this much is clear under the facts and Supreme Court precedent — there is no valid cause for removing Governor Cook,” the lawyer added.
“As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed.”
Cook has denied wrongdoing and has never been charged with a crime.
She warned Wednesday that she could back an interest rate hike if inflation fails to ease, joining a growing number of Fed officials signaling they are prepared to tighten policy.
“I am prepared to act by raising rates, if necessary,” Cook said at the Economic Luncheon of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation in Anchorage, Alaska.
“I would support an increase, if it becomes necessary, to bring inflation down. It may not.”
The allegations stem from criminal referrals made by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump ally, who accused Cook of falsifying bank documents to obtain favorable terms on mortgages before she joined the Fed.
Trump first demanded Cook resign in August of last year and days later purported to fire her “for cause,” setting off the first presidential attempt in the Federal Reserve’s history to remove a sitting governor under the Federal Reserve Act’s removal provision.
Cook refused to leave and sued.
A federal judge blocked the firing, and the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit refused to let Trump remove Cook while the litigation continued.
The fight ultimately landed at the Supreme Court.
The court’s June 29 ruling dealt Trump a setback but stopped short of giving Cook an unconditional victory.
The 5-4 majority rejected the administration’s sweeping position that a president’s determination of “cause” was effectively beyond meaningful judicial scrutiny.
But the court also declined to adopt a categorical rule that alleged misconduct occurring before a governor joined the Fed could never justify removal.
The showdown is part of a broader battle between Trump and the Fed over the central bank’s independence and the president’s repeated demands for easier monetary policy.
Trump spent years publicly attacking former Fed Chair Jerome Powell — whom Trump himself originally elevated to the chairmanship — as the central bank resisted the president’s demands for lower interest rates.
Powell said shortly after Trump’s 2024 election that presidential removal or demotion of the Fed chair was “not permitted under the law,” and in 2025 Trump ratcheted up public attacks as Powell resisted demands for faster and deeper rate cuts.
The administration subsequently turned its attention to cost overruns involving renovations of Federal Reserve buildings.
In January, the Justice Department served two grand-jury subpoenas on the Federal Reserve Board concerning the renovations and Powell’s congressional testimony.
The investigation suffered a major setback in March when Chief Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia quashed the subpoenas, finding that their dominant purpose was improper political pressure or harassment rather than a legitimate grand-jury investigation.
Boasberg rejected the Justice Department’s request to reconsider the ruling in April. The investigation was closed later that month without charges, and the judge subsequently refused the government’s request to wipe away the adverse rulings.
Powell’s four-year term as Fed chair expired in May, and Kevin Warsh was sworn in as his successor on May 22.
