Fed's Cook says she will serve American public despite efforts to fire her

Source: Reuters

November 3, 2025 4:18 PM EST Updated 10 hours ago


Nov 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, in her first public appearance since President Donald Trump moved to fire her, said it took a "thick skin" to pursue public service in the U.S. and pledged to fulfill the mandate given through her Senate confirmation to defend the central bank's inflation and employment targets.

Top public jobs "are definitely worth the scrutiny...I had to learn to have a thick skin if I thought the principle was worth pursuing," Cook said at the Brookings Institution, a think tank that has been a bastion of Washington's once centrist policy consensus and where Cook once worked at the start of a career in economic research, teaching and public policy.

Central bank independence "is something worth pursuing," she said. "This too shall pass. I will continue doing this work on behalf of the American people...I will execute this charge given by Congress."

Cook was met with solid applause at the start and end of her event. Moderator David Wessel, director of Brookings' Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, noted the efforts by the Trump administration to have her removed from office. "So far the courts have kept her there. She's still very much an active Fed governor so we're welcoming her today," he said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/feds-cook-acknowledges-attempt-remove-her-declines-comment-amid-legal-action-2025-11-03/