In a stunning admission, Democrat Lisa Cook’s attorney conceded that President Trump possesses the legal authority to remove his client from her role as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
The moment came during Wednesday’s Supreme Court oral arguments in Trump v. Cook, which centers around a request brought by the Trump administration to pause a lower court injunction preventing Cook’s removal. As The Federalist previously reported, Trump fired Cook in August over allegations that she committed mortgage fraud prior to joining the Fed.
During the hearing, Cook’s lawyer Paul Clement argued that Cook was unlawfully terminated by the president. More specifically, he echoed claims from his team’s brief in the case that pre-office allegations are not sufficient for removal and that Cook was not properly notified of her removal or given an opportunity to challenge the allegations against her.
Under questioning from Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, however, Clement conceded a major point — that Trump does, in fact, have the ultimate authority to remove Cook and other members of the Fed’s Board of Governors.
Clement argued that Trump’s initial efforts to fire Cook via Truth Social posts show he “wasn’t acting like a removing authority that was subject to any due process.” He further claimed that if the president “were sort of subject to that, he wouldn’t have said in his opening tweet, ‘You must resign,’ and he wouldn’t have said two days later, ‘Resign or be fired.”
Alito interjected, asking Clement whether — under his standard — such firing notices have to come from “a body of disinterested decision-makers — people who are not part of the executive branch and can exercise independent judgment that way?”