Friday, August 29

Headlines



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Fed Governor Lisa Cook sued President Trump over her firing. Cook filed the lawsuit yesterday in Washington, DC, federal court, calling Trump’s efforts to remove her illegal and kicking off a fight over the Fed’s independence. The suit focused on the Federal Reserve Act, which dictates that she could only be removed for “cause”—the parameters of which will likely ultimately be determined by the Supreme Court. The suit also claims Cook’s due process was violated, as she was not given an opportunity to respond to the mortgage fraud accusations that Trump said her termination was based on before he announced it. Cook’s filing suggested the mortgage application in question contained a “clerical error.”

US GDP growth got revised upward. The second of three estimates for Q2 GDP data was released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis yesterday, showing that the US gross domestic product increased by 3.3% on an annual basis during that time. That’s higher than the 3% estimate released last month, and the data will be revised one more time before it’s finalized. Growth is good, but it complicates the Federal Reserve’s job of making an interest rate decision in a couple of weeks. If the economy is trending up and to the right, it has less reason to cut interest rates.

Fallout from Monarez’s firing besieges CDC. Following President Trump’s firing of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, on Wednesday night, three senior CDC leaders resigned in protest yesterday morning. Monarez was a longtime scientist for the federal government whom Trump nominated for the role. Her attorneys said she was fired for refusing to follow “unscientific, reckless directives.” One of the leaders who resigned said she did so because Monarez’s firing makes it easier for a CDC committee to change vaccine recommendations. That panel is scheduled to meet on Sept. 18, the Department of Health and Human Services announced yesterday.—HVL


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