Prominent economists are rallying behind Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook after President Donald Trump moved to fire her based on allegations that she committed mortgage fraud.
More than 450 economists signed an open letter backing Cook, saying there is a high bar for removing Fed governors and that elected officials should refrain from actions and rhetoric that erode the central bank’s independence.
The letter, released Tuesday, included signatures from Nobel Laureates Claudia Goldin, Paul Romer, Christina Romer — who served as chair of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers — and Trevon Logan, an Ohio State University professor who has co-authored papers with Cook.
“Recent public statements about Governor Cook — including threats of removal and a claim that she has been fired — have arrived alongside unproven accusations,” they wrote. “This approach threatens the fundamental principle of central bank independence and undermines trust in one of America’s most important institutions.”
Trump said in a letter posted to Truth Social last week that he was moving to fire Cook “effective immediately” over unproven allegations that she lied on one or more mortgage loan applications in 2021. Cook sued Trump to fight the removal and remain in her job, responding that the allegations relate to a time before she took office and do not amount to the “cause” needed to fire a Fed governor.
Cook became the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s Board of Governors when she was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022. Her term is not set to expire until 2038.
The president’s move to unseat Cook is the latest in a steady stream of attacks leveled against the Fed since he returned to the White House in January, aimed at getting the central bank to cut interest rates.
If Trump succeeds in removing her, it would give him the opportunity to name another Fed governor, potentially giving him a majority on the seven-member board and raising the chances that he can impose a more direct influence over the Fed’s independent rate-setting process.
The letter was also signed by former Labor Department Chief Economist Janelle Jones, University of California, Berkeley professor David Romer and former Fed economists Claudia Sahm and Julia Coronado.
“We stand with Governor Cook and with the institutional safeguards that have long underpinned American economic strength,” they said in the letter.
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