(Adnkronos) – A federal appeals court in Washington has rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, leaving in place the lower court injunction blocking her dismissal. The Wall Street Journal reports this, emphasizing that the decision, taken by a majority of a three-judge panel, comes just hours before the start of the next central bank meeting, where an interest rate cut is expected.
Trump announced last month the removal of Cook, claiming she had provided false data in old mortgage practices, accusations relaunched by one of his appointees to the Federal Housing Finance Agency and now under criminal investigation. Cook has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing, stating that the complete documents “prove the opposite.” According to her lawyers, the accusations do not constitute a valid cause for removal under the Federal Reserve Act and are motivated by her dissent from Trump’s line on rates.
Two judges, Bradley Garcia and J. Michelle Childs, found that the administration did not give Cook adequate opportunity to defend herself and that her exclusion “would upset the status quo,” while Judge Gregory Katsas, appointed by Trump, dissented. The affair fuels the clash over the Fed’s degree of independence, already tested by White House pressure, while the Senate has confirmed in parallel Stephen Miran, Trump’s new nominee to the board.
