Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are skeptical about President Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, but they’re keeping quiet for now to avoid a direct confrontation with Trump.
Republican sources say that Senate Republicans didn’t support Cook’s nomination to the Fed when then-President Joe Biden tapped her for the job in 2022, but they view Trump’s claim that he’s firing her for cause as weak and worry that he’s trampling on the Fed’s independence.
One senior Senate GOP aide who requested anonymity to comment candidly on Trump’s effort to oust Cook said the president doesn’t appear to have any real “cause” to do so.
“If he has cause to fire her over an allegation of malfeasance from before she was even confirmed by the Senate, there’s a million other ways you could then cook up a definition of ‘cause,’” to justifying firing a commissioner or board member at an independent agency, the aide said.
“This is clearly aimed at Powell. They’re trying to box Powell in,” the source added, referring to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Trump has relentlessly feuded with Powell since returning to office over the Fed’s decision to not cut interest rates.
In calling for Cook’s termination at the Fed, Trump cited allegations by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, that Cook designated both a condominium in Atlanta and a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as her primary residence in taking out loans.
Cook has pushed back against the allegation and said Trump has no cause to justify firing her. She has pledged to stay in the job.
“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022,” Cook said in a statement.
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told reporters Tuesday that Trump’s attempt to push Cook out of her job is “breaking new ground” and, adding, “I don’t know whether the law allows it or not.”
Other Republicans have previously argued that Trump does not have the power to fire Powell, the Fed chair, and defended the independence of other central bank commissioners.
“I do not believe a president, any president, has the authority to fire the Federal Reserve chair,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, told The Hill last month.
“I believe strongly in the independence of the Federal Reserve. Some countries in the world don’t have independent central banks. Ask Turkey how that’s been working out for them. At one point Turkey had inflation at 30 percent,” he said.
Kennedy’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s threat to fire Cook.
Trump on Monday posted a letter to Cook to his Truth Social platform announcing that he was removing her from the board of governors “pursuant to my authority under Article II of the Constitution of the United States and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.”
Some Republicans are viewing the effort to oust Cook as a way to put pressure on Powell, whom Trump has repeatedly criticized for not cutting interest rates at a faster rate despite signs that the economy is slowing.
“I think Powell is going to defend Cook,” the senior GOP aide said. “I don’t think Trump wants to go to war with Powell. … If he went after Powell, the market would react angrily to that.”
The source warned that even if Trump is successful in pushing Cook off the Fed board, any replacement the president nominates would face a tough path to confirmation in the Senate.
Republicans control a 13-to-11 seat majority on the Senate Banking Committee, which means that any Republican senator could bottle up a nominee in committee by voting with the Democrats against that person.
GOP senators failed to pass two of Trump’s controversial nominees to the Fed during his first term, Stephen Moore and Judy Shelton.
Moore, a conservative commentator, withdrew his name from consideration in May of 2019 after he ran into Senate GOP opposition in part because of controversial and disparaging statements about women.
Shelton failed to advance after then-Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said they wouldn’t vote for her.
Shelton came under scrutiny for her unorthodox views, such as advocating for a return to the gold standard — a position she later backed away from.
Senate Banking Committee Tim Scott (R-S.C.) did not comment Tuesday on Trump’s attempt to fire Cook and his staff did not respond to a request for comment.
Other Republican senators who have recently defended the Fed’s independence, including Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), members of the Banking panel, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Senate Democrats reacted angrily to Trump’s announcement that he would fire Cook, calling the move “illegal.”
“The illegal attempt to fire Lisa Cook is the latest example of a desperate president searching for a scapegoat to cover his own failure to lower costs for Americans. It’s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the ranking member on the Banking Committee.
Abbe Lowell, Cook’s attorney, said his client will sue Trump to stop him from removing her from the board.
Lowell said Trump “has no authority to remove” his client that that his “attempt to fire her” is “based solely on a referral letter” and “lacks any factual or legal basis.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused Trump of playing “partisan games” and risking the broader stability of the U.S. economy.
“Donald Trump is playing a dangerous game of Jenga with a key pillar of our economy. This brazen power grab must be stopped by the courts before Trump does permanent damage to national, state and local economies,” Schumer said.
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