The Trump administration on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to allow it to move ahead with firing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, in an attempt to block her from taking part in the central bank’s meeting on interest rates next week.
The government filed its emergency request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, two days after a lower court temporarily prevented President Trump from carrying out his plan to fire Ms. Cook over allegations that she falsified records on her mortgage applications.
In its motion, the Justice Department explicitly asked the judges to decide “by the close of business on Monday.” That is the day before the Fed’s voting members — including Ms. Cook — will begin a two-day meeting to determine whether to lower borrowing costs.
Mr. Trump has demanded for months that the Fed lower interest rates, but the central bank has kept them unchanged out of concern that the president’s policies could stoke inflation. At next week’s meeting, the Fed is widely expected to restart interest rate cuts that it paused at the beginning of the year, although officials are unlikely to approve a reduction as deep as Mr. Trump would prefer.
Interest rates at the Fed are set by the seven members of the Board of Governors, on which Ms. Cook serves, as well as a rotating set of five presidents from the regional reserve banks. The government is arguing that Ms. Cook should not be in attendance at that meeting.
The Fed, which is listed as a defendant in Ms. Cook’s lawsuit to block it from carrying out the president’s orders, has said it will abide by any court decision.
Mr. Trump announced he would fire Ms. Cook in late August, claiming that she had engaged in mortgage fraud, even though she has not been charged or convicted of a crime. Still, the president said that the allegations alone met the threshold to dismiss her for “cause” under the Fed’s founding statute.
A District Court judge disagreed, and issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday blocking Mr. Trump from proceeding while the court considers the legality of the matter. In doing so, the judge, Jia Cobb, said that the law did not allow the president to fire Ms. Cook for alleged conduct that took place before the Senate confirmed her to the Fed in 2022.
Mr. Trump has spoken openly about his desire to remake the roster of the central bank with political loyalists who share his views on interest rates. This week, he gained an early victory in the Senate, where Republicans took the first steps toward confirming Stephen Miran, one of Mr. Trump’s top economic advisers, to fill an opening at the Fed created by the sudden departure of Adriana Kugler.
The expedited timeline could open the door for Mr. Miran to be confirmed in time for next week’s meeting.
Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.
Colby Smith covers the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for The Times.
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