President Donald Trump is reviving his campaign to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
In a letter signed by White House deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, the White House informed Cook Wednesday that it was once again “considering” removing her from her position. The letter demanded Cook respond to the baseless allegations that she committed mortgage fraud within 21 days.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that Trump could not fire Cook, finding that the government had not afforded her the protections she was entitled to by statute, and as a result temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence.
Last August, Trump declared that he was booting Cook—the first Black woman on the Federal Reserve board—over claims she committed mortgage fraud by having two primary residences. Cook refused to step down and sued, stating that “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so.”
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the case was set to be sent back to a lower court. The higher court declined to weigh in on Cook’s allegations, and did not lay out clear criteria for Trump to fire Cook.
In a statement, Cook’s lawyers stated that the allegations of mortgage fraud were “as baseless now as they were a year ago.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s own mortgage agreements appear to match the same criteria his Department of Justice has used to go after many of the president’s enemies.
The focus of the GOP’s first ever midterm convention in September won’t be Trump’s dismal approval rating, how to end the war on Iran, or the stagnant economy. They will be spending their time, resources, and funds focusing on democratic socialism.
Axios reported Friday that the GOP has spent months pulling together an “endless” video trove of attack ads targeted at progressive commentators like Hasan Piker, and Democratic Senate nominees Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico.
This seems like it’ll be quite the spectacle. The convention ends on September 10—the one year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death—and will feature speeches from Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The convention plans to emphasize Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement and Vance’s anti-fraud task force, neither of which are particularly compelling. Trump is also expected to be in attendance.
This is all occurring while the vast majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s performance, and blame him directly for their economic woes—all while he drives gas prices up higher as he drags his war on Iran on longer and longer. This event will almost certainly be an endless blooper reel of Republicans calling on the spirit of McCarthyism to try and convince Americans that it’s bad to want more affordability and less deadly bombs to Israel.
“While everyday Americans struggle to pay their bills, fill up their tanks, or put food on the table, Republicans are hosting a multimillion-dollar celebration to satisfy Donald Trump’s massive ego and tie vulnerable Republican candidates closer to his failed agenda,” DNC spokesperson Kendall Witmer said to Axios.
While the GOP itself is leading the charge against democratic socialism, Democrats are leaving it up to their PACs, as the dark money centrist thinktank Third Way just committed $15 million towards punching to their left on Thursday.
Amazon is quietly trying to build the biggest gas power plant in the country.
The Distilled newsletter reported Friday that the megacorporation has bought land and acquired permits in Pecos County, Texas, for an AI data center powered by a 7.65 gigawatt gas power plant. The plant will be completely separate from Texas’s power grid, at least in the beginning, the permits show.