Fed's Cook Received More Than $1 Million in Legal Aid During Trump Clash -- WSJ

By Matt Grossman

Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook received more than $1 million to pay for legal fees and security last year as she fought President Trump's attempt to fire her, according to an annual financial disclosure published Thursday.

Cook reported nearly $1.2 million in legal payments made on her behalf last year, listed as gifts on her 2025 Fed ethics disclosure. Roughly $700,000 of the legal support came from Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit that has criticized the Trump administration.

"Democracy Defenders Fund is proud to be part of the legal defense team on this case as part of our fight to defend the rule of law," said Norm Eisen, the group's co-founder and executive chair.

Cook also received smaller sums for security from other benefactors, plus additional free legal and security services, the disclosure said.

Trump moved to fire her as a Fed governor last summer citing allegations of mortgage fraud, which Cook has denied. She sued to keep her job, and the case quickly reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices heard arguments in the case in January and are expected to rule before the end of June.

The legal fight turns on the job protections Congress built into the laws governing the Fed, which say presidentially appointed governors like Cook can be fired only "for cause." The firing attempt was also part of a broader assault by Trump on the Fed's independence, which included a criminal investigation of Jerome Powell, the Fed chair until last month and a longtime target of Trump's anger.

At the heart of the allegations against Cook was an assertion by Trump housing official Bill Pulte that she listed multiple properties as her primary residence -- a designation that can secure a lower mortgage rate.

Cook has said the statements in her mortgage documents were either accurate when she filed them or amounted to an "inadvertent notation" that fell short of fraud, given her other disclosures to lenders.

Cook's 2025 disclosure lists her as the owner of two of the properties at the center of the administration's mortgage-fraud accusations: homes in Cambridge, Mass., and Ann Arbor, Mich., from which she reported receiving a total of between $65,000 and $150,000 in rent last year.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 18, 2026 17:51 ET (21:51 GMT)

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