Trump vs. Fed hits critical point: If he can fire Cook, many others might follow

The president and the Fed have been on a collision course for months. At 8:02pm ET Monday night, the crash took place, as President Trump said he was firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook for alleged false claims in her mortgage applications four years ago.

Why it matters: Cook says she will fight what she and her lawyers characterize as an illegal attempt to fire her, setting up a legal battle royale over who is really in charge of the world's most important central bank. • Is it the governors appointed to lengthy, staggered terms meant to assure a measure of political independence, or is it any president willing to cast aside rules and norms established over more than a century? • Even though it only concerns an attempt to fire one governor out of seven, for believers in central