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Does It Matter That Firing a Fed Governor Is Illegal?

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Paul Krugman: “Yesterday Donald Trump said that he had fired Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors… Cook has said that she will not resign.”

“So at this point the immediate onus is on Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman. He has the right — I would say the obligation — to say, ‘Show me the legal basis for this action.’ If Trump’s officials can’t provide that basis, he should declare that as far as he is concerned, Cook is still a Fed governor.”

“If Powell caves, or the Supreme Court acts supine again and validates Trump’s illegal declaration, the implications will be profound and disastrous. The United States will be well on its way to becoming Turkey, where an authoritarian ruler imposed his crackpot economics on the central bank, sending inflation soaring to 80 percent.”

Playbook: “The dilemma for the Fed is immediate… Do they treat her as fired or not?”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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