United States

Who is Lisa Cook and why Trump fired her

First African-American woman appointed to the Federal Reserve by Joe Biden

26 August 2025

4' min read

The dismissal with 'immediate effect' of Fed Governor Lisa Cook is unprecedented, according to analysts and observers, and means only one thing: Donald Trump, who announced the decision on the night of Monday 25 August, wants to take control of the Federal Reserve. The reason for the removal, which Cook disputes and will oppose, is that the governor allegedly "forged documents to obtain more favourable terms on a housing loan". Trump's announcement on social Truth comes after the US Department of Justice announced it would investigate Cook, following a criminal report by Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte that Cook had committed mortgage fraud.

The announcement of the dismissal is not a bolt from the blue: it follows a campaign of threats against Cook by the administration and its allies and comes as the president seeks to increase pressure on the US central bank to cut interest rates.

Cook is a member of the seven-member Board of Governors, which, along with five of the 12 central bank presidents, makes up the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates. She became the first black woman appointed to the board in the Fed's more than 100-year history when President Joe Biden appointed her in 2022, for a term ending in 2024. Biden then reappointed her for a new 14-year term, expiring in 2038.

Cook holds a PhD in economics, a common qualification for Fed officials, and was a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University before joining the central bank. Her research has focused on international central banking, financial crises, racial economic inequality, and the impact of innovation on the economy.

Cook also served on President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers and was at the Treasury Department in the early 2000s.

Cook joined the Fed at a time when it was embarking on its most aggressive rate hike campaign in 40 years, in an attempt to combat soaring inflation. Since joining the central bank, she has voted with the majority of the FOMC and its Chairman Jerome Powell at every meeting, including the five meetings so far this year in which policymakers have kept rates unchanged.

Tired of still high inflation, Cook also called the latest employment report, which showed a sharp slowdown in hiring this summer, "worrying," adding that such a cooling could signal a turning point for the US economy. He did not yet say whether he would support a rate cut at the next Fed meeting in September, which investors and central bank watchers are increasingly betting on.

Cook, Bloomberg writes, faced an aggressive Republican-led campaign during his Senate confirmation. His critics, including former Senator Pat Toomey and Senator Bill Hagerty, questioned his research background, arguing that his work had focused too much on racial politics and not enough on monetary theory.

Hagerty also accused her of having lied on her CV, an argument spread by right-wing news sites and a much-criticised anonymous economic forum, which she firmly denied.

In 2022, Cook was confirmed in the Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris stepping in to break the 50-50 tie.

Cook is originally from Georgia and comes from a family active in the civil rights movement - her uncle Samuel DuBois Cook was a classmate of Martin Luther King Jr. and an eminent political scientist - she has often written about how her background has shaped her life and work.

In an editorial in the New York Times entitled 'It was a mistake for me to choose this field', Cook and coauthor Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman wrote about the challenges black women face when pursuing economics. Few choose to enter the profession - only four of the 492 PhDs in economics awarded to women in 2023 went to black women - and even fewer remain because of discrimination in publication citations, Cook and Opoku-Agyeman wrote.

Cook wrote an article on the impact of lynch mobs on patent applications, finding that the killing of African-Americans caused the total number of patents that would probably have existed had those people survived. Since joining the Fed, Cook has given speeches on artificial intelligence, innovation and productivity, topics that the business profession grapples with as new technologies impact the workforce and other aspects of the economy.

Trump's attack on Cook comes just weeks after he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics following a monthly employment report that indicated a sharp slowdown in hiring in recent months.The president has also questioned the independence of the country's judges and used his executive authority to attack the academic establishment, media groups, and law firms. But his moves against economic agencies, writes the Financial Times, have unnerved investors, who are increasingly concerned about the institutions that have long been at the forefront of data analysis and policymaking.

Trump's imprint is already present in the Fed. Two of the seven board members, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, were selected by him during his first term.

This month, former President Joe Biden's gubernatorial appointee Adriana Kugler announced her resignation before the end of her term next year, prompting Trump to choose Stephen Miran, one of his closest economic advisors, as her successor. Should Trump succeed in ousting Cook, whose term expires in 2038, his nominees would have control of the seven-member board.

The game is not over, however. Ms Cook has not been charged with any offence and last week stated that she 'has no intention of being intimidated into resigning from her position'. Many legal experts have also raised serious concerns about the manner of her dismissal and the justifications given by the president. Probably, writes the New York Times, the president will not be able to dismiss the governor without cause. But on the other hand, if a judge were to let Ms. Cook remain in office while the case is heard, the administration would almost certainly ask the Supreme Court to intervene. And the Supreme Court right now often hangs in Trump's favour.