A federal judge at Washington, D.C., is blocking President Trump’s attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, after she was accused of committing fraud on mortgage documents by a Trump administration official. She is now almost certainly going to participate in the next Fed meeting to set interest rates. 

Mr. Trump attempted to fire Ms. Cook last month, after the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, accused her of fraudulently claiming two residences as her “primary residence” in order to get more favorable financing for her mortgages. 

Within days, Ms. Cook — who was appointed to the Federal Reserve board of governors by President Biden — sued Mr. Trump for improperly attempting to fire her “for cause.” Judge Jia Cobb agreed with Ms. Cook’s assessment in a late-night ruling on Tuesday, though only on a temporary basis. She is set to hear further arguments after issuing an injunction against Ms. Cook’s firing late Tuesday night. 

Judge Cobb says that the legal battle between Ms. Cook and Mr. Trump raises “many serious questions of first impression that the Court believes will benefit from further briefing on a non-emergency timeline.” The judge states later that she believes that Ms. Cook “made a strong showing that her purported removal was done in violation of the Federal Reserve Act’s ‘for cause’ provision.”

Ms. Cook is accused of committing mortgage fraud before her tenure as a Federal Reserve governor, which leads Judge Cobb, she says, to the belief that “‘For cause’ … does not contemplate removing an individual purely for conduct that occurred before they began in office.”

“In addition, the Court finds that the removal also likely violated Cook’s procedural rights under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. She has also demonstrated irreparable harm from her removal,” Judge Cobb writes in her temporary relief for the Fed governor. 

In announcing his attempt to fire Ms. Cook, Mr. Trump wrote a letter to the Fed governor — which was later posted to Truth Social — alleging that “there is sufficient reason to believe you may have made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.” 

In a post on X seemingly replying to Judge Cobb’s order on Tuesday, Mr. Pulte wrote only that the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, “is an HR and Legal nightmare for the Federal Reserve.”

Ms. Cook also sued Mr. Powell and the Federal Reserve as a whole, arguing that she could not be removed or barred from participating in her official duties. Judge Cobb ruled Tuesday that Mr. Powell could not effectuate the president’s attempt to fire his colleague. 

“It is further ORDERED that Defendants Jerome H. Powell and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System are preliminarily ENJOINED from effectuating in any manner,” Judge Cobb writes.

The next Fed meeting is set to take place on September 16 and 17.