Fed chief Powell to attend Supreme Court arguments on Trump bid to fire Lisa Cook

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Mon, Jan 19 2026 2:02 PM EST Updated 14 Min Ago


Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell plans to attend oral arguments on Wednesday at the Supreme Court in a case challenging the power of President Donald Trump to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC on Monday.

Powell’s planned attendance comes as the Fed chairman is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., in connection with a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the central bank’s headquarters and his testimony to Congress about that project. The Associated Press first reported on Powell’s plans.

For Powell to personally attend oral arguments in such a case is unusual. But the question of whether a president can fire a Fed governor in the manner that Trump has attempted is viewed within the central bank as having potentially existential consequences.

Powell, in an extraordinary public statement on Jan. 11, revealed that he was under criminal investigation, and called its purported grounds a pretext for its real reason: the refusal of the Fed’s Board of Governors, which includes him and Cook as members, to lower interest rates as quickly as Trump demanded last year. “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/19/fed-powell-supreme-court-trump-lisa-cook.html

---

Article updated.

Previous article -

Published Mon, Jan 19 2026 2:02 PM EST Updated 1 Min Ago


Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell plans to attend oral arguments on Wednesday at the Supreme Court in a case challenging the power of President Donald Trump to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC on Monday.

Powell's planned attendance comes as the Fed chairman is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., in connection with a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the central bank's headquarters and his testimony to Congress about that project.

The Associated Press first reported on Powell's plans.

For Powell to personally attend oral arguments in such a case is unusual. But the question of whether a president can fire a Fed governor in the manner that Trump has attempted is viewed within the central bank as having potentially existential consequences for it.

Original article -

Published Mon, Jan 19 2026 2:02 PM EST Updated 3 Min Ago


Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell plans to attend oral arguments on Wednesday at the Supreme Court in a case challenging the power of President Donald Trump to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC on Monday.

Powell's planned attendance comes as the Fed chairman is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., in connection with a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the central bank's headquarters and his testimony to Congress about that project.


This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Deadline Legal Blog-Powell probe comes ahead of SCOTUS hearing on Trump's Federal Reserve firing power

The high court has signaled it wants to protect the Fed’s independence more than that of other federal agencies.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/powell-doj-probe-supreme-court-federal-reserve-lisa-cook

News that the Justice Department is investigating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell comes just ahead of a Supreme Court hearing over President Donald Trump’s bid to fire Lisa Cook from the Fed’s Board of Governors.

While the high court’s Republican-appointed majority has broadly blessed Trump’s firing powers and doesn’t seem to care much for independent federal agencies in general, the court has nonetheless signaled it wants to insulate the Fed from Trump’s consolidation of agency power. Indeed, the court let Cook stay on the board pending the outcome of the litigation, which the court hasn’t allowed for many other agency members.

Against that backdrop, news of the Powell probe might not help the Trump administration in the Cook case. It’s unclear whether the new investigation will come up directly in the appeal, but the addition of further apparent evidence that the administration is weaponizing the DOJ to carry out the president’s policy goals could make the high court even more likely to take steps to secure the central bank’s independence.

In a video statement Sunday night, Powell said the DOJ served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas on Friday, threatening prosecution related to his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee last June. The testimony was about renovations to Fed office buildings. ......

Again, the Powell investigation might not surface formally at all at the Cook hearing, and perhaps the court was already determined to safeguard Fed independence — at least more than other agencies.

But the court that has gone out of its way to protect the Fed is surely aware of the news. And to the extent that it agrees with Powell’s pretextual view of the probe, that would only seem to strengthen the court’s apparent inclination to protect the Fed’s independence.

[mpcamb]

2. Good move, Powell

You'll have interviews after the attempt, or even succeess, for talkin' legal shit in court or after to say what's true, what's legal and what's right for America and what's a despicable lie.
( we may be in an inertia fight, an inertia fight to say what is REAL, after one more miscarriage of justice and the tide of public opinion says "enough, Enough, ENOUGH!!" and turns toward truth. It happened gradually against England a few centuries ago. May it again. It'll take >50% of the population because of people who are nuetral in the fight for truth and honor.)