Trump Can Fire Lisa Cook

President Donald Trump has fired Lisa Cook from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for lying on mortgage applications; Cook has sued to keep her job. While central bank independence may foster long-term economic growth by keeping politicians away from interest rates, the Federal Reserve Act gives the president cause to remove Cook, and the Constitution demands that the Board and its officers remain under presidential command.

Cook’s firing came after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged that in 2021 Cook had claimed each of two different properties — a home in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a condo in Atlanta — as her primary home address. In the earlier mortgage document, Cook had pledged to live in her Ann Arbor house as her primary residence for at least one year, unless her lender agreed otherwise or unforeseen circumstances arose. Only two weeks later, Cook made the same claims in the mortgage documents for her Atlanta condo. Under IRS rules, only one primary residence can be claimed per year.

About the Author

John Yoo

John Yoo is the Thomas W. Smith Senior Fellow at the Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin; Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley; and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a co-author of the just-released two-volume American Constitutional Law (Routledge, 2026).

RD

About the Author

Robert J. Delahunty

Robert J. Delahunty is a fellow at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life.

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President Donald Trump has fired Lisa Cook from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for lying on mortgage applications; Cook has sued to keep her job. While central bank independence may foster long-term economic growth by keeping politicians away from interest rates, the Federal Reserve Act gives the president cause to remove Cook, and the Constitution demands that the Board and its officers remain under presidential command.

Cook’s firing came after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged that in 2021 Cook had claimed each of two different properties — a home in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a condo in Atlanta — as her primary home address. In the earlier mortgage document, Cook had pledged to live in her Ann Arbor house as her primary residence for at least one year, unless her lender agreed otherwise or unforeseen circumstances arose. Only two weeks later, Cook made the same claims in the mortgage documents for her Atlanta condo. Under IRS rules, only one primary residence can be claimed per year.

About the Author

John Yoo

John Yoo is the Thomas W. Smith Senior Fellow at the Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin; Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley; and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a co-author of the just-released two-volume American Constitutional Law (Routledge, 2026).

RD

About the Author

Robert J. Delahunty

Robert J. Delahunty is a fellow at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life.