U.S. President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attend a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 26, 2025,
The summary, according to the BBC report, states that Donald Trump and his Cabinet are meeting, the day after he ramped up his battle with the US central bank.
The president and his secretaries spoke during the public portion of the meeting for nearly three-and-a-half hours, with Trump accusing Cook of being “not above board”
The US president took to social media overnight to say he plans to “immediately” fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations
Cook says Trump has no authority to remove her, and her lawyer says they will file a lawsuit challenging “this illegal action”
It’s a major escalation of the president’s ongoing attempts to get the Fed to lower interest rates.
Democrats critique Trump’s threat to fire Cook
Democrats are hitting back against Trump’s threats to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has accused the president of trying to “take over the Federal Reserve”.
“Hugo Chavez would be proud,” Jeffries said. “Why aren’t Republicans and so-called defenders of the free market complaining? Complete phonies.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described Trump’s threat to fire Cook as “the latest in Donald Trump’s DC partisan games to rig the economy for his billionaire donors at the expense of hardworking Americans”.
“This attempted firing shreds the independence of the Fed and puts every American’s savings and mortgage at risk,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump is playing a dangerous game of Jenga with a key pillar of our economy. This brazen power grab must be stopped by the courts before Trump does permanent damage to national, state, and local economies.”
Trump hits out at US interest rates, set by the Fedpublished at 20:24
Trump says people are paying too high interest rates and it’s “hurting the housing industry.”
He says most of the US economy is doing great but housing is “less than it could be” and he blames Fed chair Powell for that.
The Federal Reserve’s key lending rate is between 4.25% and 4.5%.
Trump says he will ‘abide by the court’published at 20:24
Trump has just been asked about the Federal Reserve statement we just told you about, which says Lisa Cook has said she plans to challenge her removal in court.
He says that he will “abide by the court”, but when reporters try to ask him follow up questions says “that’s enough” and moves on to other questions.
The Fed will continue to ‘carry out its duties’, central bank sayspublished at 20:21
20:21
As Trump has been speaking, the Federal Reserve has released a statement on Trump’s attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
The statement reasserts the central bank’s independence but it doesn’t clarify if Cook is still in her post.
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