Trump renews effort to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook

President Donald Trump is renewing his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, keeping alive his assault on the central bank's independence even after the U.S. Supreme Court in June dealt him a significant setback in his bid to remove her earlier this year, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

The letter, signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and first reported by ABC News, said the president was "considering" removing her, demands response within three weeks, alleges crimes punishable by up to 30 years in prison and negligence "calling into question her trustworthiness as a Fed governor."

The Supreme Court refused in June to allow the firing - a 5-4 ruling that blocked the removal 'for now.'

Roberts: "failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute." / "Without such protections, she could not properly dispute the charges the president laid against her." / "It at least remains an open question what precisely happened here"

This is the second time this week Trump restarted an action the Supreme Court blocked earlier this year; he also issued new executive orders targeting birthright citizenship.

Reuters previously reported Cook listed one of the homes at issue as a vacation property in lender submissions, and that Michigan's local tax authority said she had not broken rules for tax breaks on a home she declared her primary residence.

Lowell: "there is no valid cause" / "As we did before, we will challenge this latest pretext and preserve her position and the historic role of the Fed."

Conti-Brown (Wharton): "meddling by the president in exactly this way, so it doesn't surprise me." / "There is no doubt among any Fed watchers of any partisan stripe of whom I'm aware about the motivation here." / "pretextual"