Why everyone should pay attention to an attempted firing of one of America's central bankers.

I'm David Brancaccio. Based on unproven allegations, President Trump last evening moved to fire a governor of America's Central Bank, the Federal Reserve.

The Fed governor, Lisa Cook, says the president does not have the authority to

fire her and plans to stay on. In social media posts last week, Trump had claimed without evidence

that there was fraud on a mortgage once taken out by Cook. One of the strengths of the U.S.

financial system has been a central bank that is not beholden to the impulses of politicians.

Karen Petru watches the Fed closely as founder of Federal Financial Analytics in Washington.

Morning.

Good morning.

I want to ask you, do Federal Reserve governors, like Lisa Cook, serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States? Like, for instance, the President's

chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. The President could certainly fire that position,

but what about a Fed governor? No, the President cannot fire any member of the Federal Reserve Board

at will. The only way the law allows the President to fire members of the Federal Reserve Board, including the chair, is for cause.

And that means there has to be malfeasance or gross negligence for that to happen.

The allegation here is that Lisa Cook committed mortgage fraud, but that is

completely unproven, and therefore, the extent to which there is cause is at best dubious.

And one would expect some sort of formal process to determine whether or not Lisa Cook is at fault in some way.

I like to think the United States, where you're innocent until proven guilty, even for cause

allegations. What happened last week was there was an unproven allegation posted on Twitter by a government official.

He called for a Justice Department criminal investigation.

The next day, another official announced that he had found Ms. Cook guilty.

Clearly, the day between an assertion posted on Twitter and the next day when a

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