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<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n An emergency court hearing over President Donald Trump\u2019s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook<\/a> ended with no immediate ruling from the judge overseeing the high-stakes legal battle.\n <\/p>\n \n US District Judge Jia Cobb spent more than two hours Friday morning hearing arguments over Cook\u2019s request to keep her job on the prominent board while her legal challenge plays out.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump on Monday said he had fired Cook \u2014 the first Fed governor ever to be fired by the president, citing allegations of mortgage fraud<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n The unprecedented move to fire Cook was a significant escalation of the president\u2019s battle against the Fed, which has typically been shielded from political influence throughout its history. Trump has blamed the Fed for taking too long to lower interest rates.\n <\/p>\n \n Cobb has asked for more written arguments to be submitted to her by next Tuesday. It\u2019s possible she rules after then, or takes additional time to sift through how to best proceed with the case. Her options include setting it on an expedited track for a prompt resolution of Cook\u2019s underlying claims.\n <\/p>\n \n Though Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, held off for now on making an initial ruling in the case, she also made clear that she wasn\u2019t prepared to fully buy into arguments pushed by either Cook or Trump.\n <\/p>\n \n The judge pushed back on a suggestion by Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth that federal courts have no authority to second-guess a decision by a president to fire a member of the Federal Reserve \u201cfor cause.\u201d But even with that judicial power, Cobb said, there still may be some level of deference by a court to the president\u2019s decision-making.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cDeferential doesn\u2019t mean that there\u2019s no probing of it,\u201d the judge said. \u201cYou just assume good faith, you defer.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But Cobb also appeared sympathetic to arguments pushed by Cook\u2019s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, that Cobb wasn\u2019t given adequate notice of Trump\u2019s reason for removing her, as well as an opportunity to defend herself against the fraud allegations underpinning the president\u2019s decision.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou\u2019re not suggesting what happened here would satisfy due process requirements?\u201d the judge asked Roth at one point.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWas anything sent to her directly?\u201d she added, referring to the fact that Trump\u2019s had only posted a letter addressed to Cook announcing her firing on social media. \u201cYou still have to serve someone. You have to give them information.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But Lowell ran into issues with Cobb over his argument that Trump\u2019s decision to lean on the fraud allegations was pretextual since he has been vocal about his desire to install members on the board who are more aligned with him on monetary policy.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m unconformable with the pretext argument,\u201d the judge said at one point.\n <\/p>\n \n At an earlier point during Friday\u2019s hearing, Lowell said that the fraud allegation, currently being investigated by the Justice Department, has become the administration\u2019s \u201cweapon of force.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere was never cause to begin, and it\u2019s just their efforts to get rid of governors \u2026 so the president can have a majority,\u201d Lowell argued.\n <\/p>\n \n Roth, meanwhile, tried to convince the judge that the due process concerns raised by Cook don\u2019t ultimately matter because, he said, she\u2019s yet to provide any public or private defense of the alleged fraud that would have swayed Trump ahead of his announcement on Monday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhat\u2019s the purpose of saying, \u2018Well the president needed to hear her out?\u2019 Well, what\u2019s that going to change?\u201d Roth said.\n <\/p>\n \n Roth also told Cobb that a short-term ruling keeping Cook on the job would irreparably harm the government because it hurts the board to have a member associated with it who has fraud allegations hanging over their head.\n <\/p>\n \n Part of Cobb\u2019s analysis in deciding whether to issue the emergency order sought by Cook will involve the potential harm that could befall both sides, in addition to other factors including how strong the judge thinks Cook\u2019s underlying claims are.\n <\/p>\n \n For months, Trump has unleashed an intense pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, arguing that his tariff policy will not push up inflation. But central bankers want to see how Trump\u2019s trade war and other sweeping policy changes affect the US economy before resuming interest rate cuts.\n <\/p>\n \n During the spring, Trump frequently threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell. But the president eventually backed off<\/a> after his advisers privately warned that doing so would likely spark extreme volatility in financial markets.\n <\/p>\n \n The Fed is in the throes of a full-scale assault by the Trump administration. In addition to an unrelenting barrage of attacks, Trump and his allies have blasted the Fed for its management of a $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters in Washington, DC, which has grown more costly over the years. Some of Trump\u2019s allies saw it as a potential opening to oust Powell.\n <\/p>\n
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