Trump can’t just fire whomever he wants
On his hit TV show “The Apprentice,” host Donald Trump could exercise his absolute power to dismiss contestants with just two words: “You’re fired.”
As president, Trump now acts as if he has the absolute power to fire federal officials. He doesn’t.
One of the latest in a long line of highly qualified federal public servants Trump has fired is Lisa Cook, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Trump has accused her of mortgage fraud, which does not appear credible.
Cook refuses to bow down to Trump and has filed a lawsuit contending that he has no power to force her out of her job. “I will not resign,” she said after Trump fired her in August. Her attorney said in a court filing that she “did not ever commit mortgage fraud.”
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington issued a temporary restraining order Sept. 9 blocking Cook from being fired while her case proceeds. Whether Cook ultimately stays at the Fed will be decided by the courts, likely the Supreme Court.
The president has no power to fire members of the Fed Board except “for cause,” meaning serious misconduct or neglect of duty. Until now, no president has ever tried to fire a member of the Fed Board in its 112-year history. Trump is absurdly claiming that unsubstantiated allegations of mortgage fraud against Cook meet the “cause” requirement.
If Cook simply made an unintentional error in filling out a home mortgage application with no criminal intent, that would not constitute a “cause” for her firing or a crime. Inaccuracies on a mortgage application are common and hardly ever prosecuted, or even discovered, unless the government is looking specifically to target someone. Nevertheless, the New York Times reported that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation of Cook.
The investigation is obviously a fishing expedition designed to find a pretext for removing Cook from her job so Trump can replace her on the Fed with someone who will to do whatever he demands.
Adding to the evidence that the investigation against Cook is politically motivated, the Trump Justice Department earlier this year launched mortgage fraud investigations against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), both prominent Trump political opponents. Both have denied wrongdoing.
On top of this, ProPublica reported that public records show three of Trump’s Cabinet members — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — claimed more than one primary residence on mortgage applications to qualify for lower interest rates, the same accusation against Cook. But there’s no sign the Justice Department is investigating them.
Trump has for months demanded that the Fed sharply reduce interest rates. That might benefit him politically in the short run by making it cheaper for Americans to borrow money. Trump would also personally benefit from reduced interest rates for his estimated billions of dollars in business debt.
Removing Cook from the Fed would allow Trump to appoint a successor, giving his appointees a majority on the board to grant him the lower interest rates he wants.
The Fed, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, has so far refused to cut short-term interest rates since December 2024 out of fear that doing so while prices are rising because of Trump’s harmful tariffs would send inflation soaring. Higher inflation could bring about higher long-term interest rates.
While Trump has called for Powell to resign, the president has not fired him. Instead, Trump fired Cook, the first Black woman ever to serve on the Fed Board. If the courts allow Cook’s firing to stand, we can expect the president to come up with trumped-up charges to remove Powell as well. Financial markets would respond negatively to the complete politicization of the Federal Reserve.
Moreover, firing Cook based on unproven allegations denies the Fed governor her constitutionally protected right to due process under law. If a mere allegation were enough to force federal officials out of their jobs, many would be removed — most notably Trump himself, who has faced far more serious criminal charges than mortgage fraud.
Trump was found guilty last year of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged extramarital affair to help him win the 2016 presidential election. However, his reelection gave him a “get out of jail free” card, sparing him from a prison sentence or financial penalty for his convictions and from prosecution for other alleged crimes he was charged with committing.
The independent Federal Reserve System was created to provide America with a safe and stable financial system based on sound economics, free from political influence. Unfortunately, Trump refuses to tolerate any limit on his power. He wants officials to make personal loyalty to him a higher priority than serving the public and defending our laws and the Constitution.
As he said Aug. 26, Trump believes that as president he has “the right to do anything I want to do.” Similarly, during his first term, Trump said that under Article II of the Constitution, “I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”
Trump is wrong. Only a dictator or absolute monarch has the power to do whatever he wants with no limitations. The founders wrote the Constitution to prevent an authoritarian from seizing power. We must not let the system they created die on our watch.
Trump should stop attacking the Fed and its board members, and stop saying “You’re fired” to anyone who doesn’t offer him total obedience. He’s not the star of “The Apprentice” anymore. He should accept that in our democracy, power cannot be completely concentrated in one person’s hands — even his own.
A. Scott Bolden is an attorney, NewsNation contributor, former chair of the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party and a former New York state prosecutor.