Trump revives effort to fire Fed’s Lisa Cook

President Donald Trump is “considering” firing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, the White House said this week, reviving an effort that had been stymied by the Supreme Court in June.

White House presidential aide Dan Scavino, in a letter to Cook dated Wednesday, said there is “sufficient reason to believe that you made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”

Those are the same allegations Trump and his allies floated when he first moved to fire Cook from the central bank last year. Cook denied the charges and filed a lawsuit challenging her dismissal.

A federal court blocked Trump from firing Cook while her suit was pending. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling in late June, upheld that decision against a challenge the president.

But Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the court’s decision did not stop Trump from trying again to remove Cook over the mortgage fraud allegations. Any new attempt to fire her would require additional steps in order to protect Cook’s Constitutional due process rights, Roberts wrote.

Scavino, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, wrote that he was sending Wednesday’s letter “pursuant to the Supreme Court’s opinion.”

He instructed Cook to provide an “explanation for your false statements and accompanying evidence” within three weeks.

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Cook, told CNBC in a statement that the allegations “are as baseless now as they were a year ago when President Trump tried to remove Governor Cook and interfere with the independence of the Federal Reserve.”

“No matter what President Trump tries to do next, this much is clear under the facts and Supreme Court precedent — there is no valid cause for removing Governor Cook,” Lowell’s statement said. “As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed.”

The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the White House’s letter.

Trump’s initial move to fire Cook, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, came as he ramped up his efforts to pressure the Fed to slash interest rates.

The mortgage-related allegations were surfaced by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who has been criticized as an “attack dog” for Trump.

Pulte has also targeted other of Trump’s perceived political foes, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, who also faced allegations of mortgage-related wrongdoing.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.