Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook attends the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s 2025 Jackson Hole economic symposium, “Labor Markets in Transition: Demographics, Productivity, and Macroeconomic Policy” in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, U.S., August 23, 2025.
Jim Urquhart | Reuters
Two Republican senators said Wednesday that they will not consider a possible replacement for Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook until her lawsuit challenging her firing by President Donald Trump is resolved.
“She is still in the position, she has not had due process yet,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told CNBC.
Rounds, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee, refused to say whether he would back a replacement for Cook in committee, noting that it is hypothetical at this point.
“I don’t get to make the decision on what comes up before the committee, so at this point, it’s hypothetical,” he said.
“She is still a member of the board, and you know the president most certainly has the right to try to influence and to lobby, but at this stage of the game, there’s no change in her status.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican member of the Banking committee, said that he is “not going to consider anybody until that’s been adjudicated.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., questions Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing titled “The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress,” in Dirksen building on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
“I’m going to leave it to the courts to decide whether or not it’s legal,” Tillis told Politico.
“But if in fact it is to be for cause, it’s dubious whether or not — even if these events are as they’ve been described — [they’re] a basis for cause,” he continued.
“If it’s a move to really kind of create a partisan divide in the Fed, then I’m against it on that basis.”
As members of the Senate Banking Committee, Tillis and Rounds have important sway over Trump’s Federal Reserve picks. Republicans have a narrow majority on the committee, so they will need unanimous support to advance the president’s eventual pick for the central bank role.
Trump in an unprecedented move last week said he was firing Cook, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, over allegations of mortgage fraud, claims that her lawyer has since denied.
Cook promptly sued over Trump’s bid to remove her, setting up a legal battle that could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
A court hearing on the matter ended without resolution last week, leaving the future of Cook’s position unclear.
