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Volume 134 No. 5

THE BLACK MEDIA AUTHORITY • AFRO.COM

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AUGUST 30, 2025 - SEPTEMBER 5, 2025

Embattled Fed Gov. Lisa Cook vows legal fight against 47th president’s bid to oust her Ken Cedeno/Pool via AP, file

Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook is challenging the 47th president’s attempt to remove her from the board. By Christopher Rugaber Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook will sue President Donald Trump’s administration to try to prevent him from firing her, her lawyer said Aug. 26. The announcement makes it more likely that a high-stakes legal battle will ensue that will probably end up at the Supreme Court. The legal fight could redefine the limits of the president’s legal authority over the central bank. Increasingly at issue is the Fed’s independence from day-to-day

politics, which most economists consider a key factor in keeping long-term inflation and interest rates low. “President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,” said Abbe Lowell, Cook’s lawyer and a longtime Washington figure who has represented prominent people from both major political parties. “His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis. We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action.”

Trump, meanwhile, underscored in remarks at the White House that his goal is to seize more power over the Fed to get it to lower interest rates. He has previously said he would only appoint people to the Fed’s board who will support lower borrowing costs. “We’ll have a majority very shortly, so that’ll be good,” Trump said, referring to the Fed’s governing board. “Once we have a majority, housing will swing,” he added, blaming slow housing sales on high mortgage rates. Trump has criticized Fed Chair

Jerome Powell for months because the Fed has left its key short-term interest rate unchanged at about 4.3 percent — relatively high compared with its level during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was nearly zero. Now Trump has turned his attention to the broader Federal Reserve system. The committee that sets interest rates has 12 voting members, with seven coming from the board and the other five drawn from the presidents of the 12 regional Fed banks. The Fed exercises expansive power

over the U.S. economy by adjusting a short-term interest rate that can influence broader borrowing costs for things like mortgages, auto loans and business loans. Also Aug. 26, the Fed itself weighed in for the first time on the firing, saying it would “abide by any court decision.” The Fed also defended its longtime independence from politics: “Congress, through the Federal Reserve Act, Continued on A2

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Gov. Moore trades barbs with Oval Office over crime rates; president threatens Key Bridge funds By Zenitha Prince AFRO Contributing Editor In an escalating feud, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore responded to recent personal insults from the Oval Office by reaffirming his commitment to public safety and inviting the president to actually visit Baltimore and some of the other Black-led cities he has insulted

instead of spouting “old, tired tropes about violence in Black communities.” “If you are not willing to be part of the solution, keep our names out of your mouth,” Moore said Aug. 21 before a crowd gathered to mark demolition at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. “Specifically, Donald Trump, if you are Continued on A2

Photo courtesy of Maryland GovPics

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore rebukes criticism of Baltimore from the 47th president of the United States, urging him to visit the city and pointing to a 20 percent statewide drop in homicides under his leadership during an Aug. 21 event.

EDITORIAL

Firing the best and the brightest By casting aside trailblazers like Lisa Cook and Carla Hayden, those in power send a dangerous message: no Black woman’s achievement is safe. By Dr. Frances Murphy Draper AFRO CEO and Publisher Lisa Cook and Carla Hayden are names that ought to inspire pride. Cook, a world-class economist, became the

first Black woman to sit on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Hayden, brilliant and beloved, rose from leading Baltimore’s public library system to becoming the first woman and the first African American to serve as Librarian

of Congress. Both women reached the pinnacle of their professions. Both are now out of their jobs. These were not symbolic appointments or token gestures. Lisa Cook’s research helped shape global economic

policy and trained a generation of economists. Carla Hayden transformed Baltimore’s libraries into vibrant community hubs long before she modernized the Continued on A9