Ex-Fed chief: Trump’s ‘unlawful’ firing of Cook is 'dangerous'

Janet Yellen, former Fed chief 

US President Donald Trump's move to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is a direct attempt to politicize the central bank and is "profoundly dangerous," former Fed chief Janet Yellen warned Wednesday.

This came in her recent opinion piece in the Financial Times, published days after Trump said he was removing Cook from her position over allegations of mortgage fraud.

But Yellen argued that accusations alone do not constitute the kinds of "cause" that allow for the firing of a Fed official.

"For Trump to invoke cause here is a fiction; it is a pretext to justify an autocratic power grab," charged Yellen, who also served as Treasury secretary under former president Joe Biden.

Trump is sending a "chilling message" to other officials sitting on the bank's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee that they could be targeted next if they disagreed with the president's views, she said.

Yellen also said that Trump’s move against Cook undermines the independence of the Fed, presents long-term inflation risks and undermines the US dollar’s strength.

She cited instances of political capture of the monetary authority in different countries, including Germany, Hungary, Argentina and Turkey.