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🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Last night, just after 8 o'clock in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump posted a letter on his social media feed. |
| 0:12.9 | And you click into the image, and you read that he has decided to fire Lisa Cook, who is one of the seven members of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve. |
| 0:24.9 | And what did that letter say? Do you have it up? Yeah, it's a letter on White House letterhead |
| 0:32.1 | dated August 25th. It says, Dear Governor Cook, pursuant to my authority under Article 2 of the Constitution of the United States and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 as amended, you are hereby removed from your position on the Board of Governors of Federal Reserve effective immediately. |
| 0:49.9 | That letter is the latest turn in what's been an escalating battle between Trump and America's central bank, the Federal Reserve. |
| 0:57.3 | The president is considering firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. |
| 1:01.7 | Trump has again been pushing Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, ramping up that pressure by publicly examining costly renovations the Fed is making. |
| 1:11.2 | President Trump escalated his attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. |
| 1:16.7 | The Fed was created just over 100 years ago. |
| 1:21.1 | Our colleague Matt Grossman covers economics. |
| 1:24.4 | And in all those years, a president has never tried to fire the chair of the Federal Reserve |
| 1:29.7 | or any of its governors. |
| 1:33.1 | And it really puts us into uncharted territory. |
| 1:36.9 | Why does that matter? |
| 1:38.2 | What's the heart of the issue here? |
| 1:40.6 | It really raises the question of whether this powerful and absolutely central economic regulator, which is a really unique institution in the United States, is going to remain independent. |
| 1:55.0 | Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Tuesday, August 26. |
| 2:07.7 | Coming up on the show, Trump's unprecedented power play at the Fed. |
| 2:12.3 | Thank you. Race the rudder, raise the sails, raise the sails! |
| 2:25.3 | Captain, an unidentified ship approaching, over. |
| 2:28.3 | Roger that. Wait, is that an enterprise sales solution? |
| 2:33.3 | Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors. |
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