He President of the United States, Donald Trumpha redoubled its attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve And this Monday has announced through a Message on your social network what withdraws Lisa Cook, One of the governors of the US Central Bank, who was appointed by Joe Biden and on which he has launched fraud accusations in mortgage requests.
Trump has announced his decision, unprecedented and immediately, hanging in Truth Social at eight in the afternoon of Washington (two in the morning in Spain) the letter he has sent to Cook. The legality of your decision, However, it is doubtful.
“The American people must have total confidence in the honesty of the members responsible for marking the policy and supervising the Federal Reserve. In the light of their fraudulent and possibly criminal behavior In a financial issue, They can’t have, and I don’t have that confidence in their integrity”, He has written.
Harassment campaign
The Trump administration, and specifically the head of the Federal Housing Financing Agency, Bill Ablicte, have been accusing a cook of Lying when asking in 2021 mortgages for two properties and describe both as the main residence. About urged the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to investigate Cook and referred his case to the Department of Justice, which has opened an inviet.
Cook, the first black woman who has served at the Board of Governors of the Fed, defended himself from the accusations and said that, although he was going to take the doubts raised about her financial history, her financial history, I did not plan to resign under pressure “for issues raised in a tweet.” On Friday Trump had said that he would say goodbye if he did not resign.
The president has spent the last months hardening the pressure on the Federal Reserve and its president, Jerome Powell, criticizing that the Central Bank has not reduced interest rates, a monetary policy decision that would help alleviate the effects of its commercial war with tariffs.
Dangerous chapter and of doubtful legality
With the dismissal of Cook the Republican opens a dangerous chapter with the potential to have Very serious consequences for trust in the US, One of the main assets for the country, as the Fed must function as a politically independent operator.
The president’s authority to take this step is, in any case, questionable. Cook was nominated by Biden and confirmed by the Senate and It is not charged or convicted. He could challenge his dismissal and open a fight in the courts, key to settle Trump’s authority over the Fed.
The president quotes in the letter that has sent to Cook the statute according to which the members of the Board of the Fed can only be “retired by the president” but adds a nuance that is not in that statute: “To my discretion“.
The case could end up deciding on the Supreme Courtwhere although the conservative majority in May recognized Trump authority to fire leaders from other independent agencies also showed his opinion that the case of the Fed was different. In that decision the magistrates defined the Central Bank as “a almost private and unique structure entity. “
Subscribe to continue reading
