An Atlanta condo is at the center of Lisa Cook's fight with the Trump administration. Why?

An Atlanta condominium purchased five years ago has become part of a high-profile legal fight between President Trump and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook — one that now reaches far beyond a dispute over mortgage paperwork.

The Trump administration is renewing its effort to remove Cook from the Federal Reserve after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 in June that she could remain in her position while challenging the president's attempt to fire her.

At the center of the dispute are allegations involving mortgage documents for two properties Cook owns: a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a condominium in Atlanta.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte accused Cook last year of identifying both properties as her "primary residence" on separate mortgage documents in 2021, alleging she did so to obtain more favorable loan terms.

Cook has denied wrongdoing, and she has not been charged with a crime.

Her attorney, Abbe Lowell, has argued that the documents surrounding the two properties tell a more complicated story.

According to a November letter from Lowell, Cook has primarily lived in the Ann Arbor home since purchasing it in 2005. Her attorneys contend that Cook therefore accurately described the Michigan property as her primary residence when she applied to refinance its mortgage in June 2021.

The Atlanta property came into the picture one month later.

Cook purchased the Atlanta condominium in 2021 and referred to it as her "primary residence" on one document in July of that year. Lowell has characterized that reference as an "isolated notation," arguing that it does not demonstrate an attempt to defraud a lender.

Cook's attorneys have pointed to other records they say support that explanation.

An earlier mortgage application submitted to the same lender in May 2021 identified the Atlanta condominium as a "vacation home," according to Lowell. Cook also disclosed the Atlanta property as a second home in federal filings made during her confirmation process to join the Federal Reserve Board.

The distinction is important because lenders can offer different mortgage terms depending on whether a borrower intends to use a property as a primary residence, second home or investment property.

But the legal battle over Cook's job now involves a broader question: how much authority does a president have to remove a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors?

What did the Supreme Court decide?

Trump first attempted to fire Cook in August 2025, citing the mortgage allegations.

Cook sued, arguing in part that she had not been given adequate notice or an opportunity to respond before the president sought to remove her.

In June, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's request to lift a lower-court order that allowed Cook to remain on the Fed board.

The narrow ruling did not determine whether Cook committed mortgage fraud or whether the allegations against her would provide sufficient legal cause for her removal.

Instead, the court concluded that Cook was entitled to notice of the allegations and a meaningful opportunity to respond before the president could remove her.

Chief Justice John Roberts also made clear that the ruling did not necessarily prevent Mr. Trump from making another attempt to remove Cook if the administration followed the required process.

The White House is now doing just that.

In a letter from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, obtained by CBS News, the administration formally notified Cook that Mr. Trump is considering removing her and has given her 21 days to respond to the allegations.

"These allegations are as baseless now as they were a year ago when President Trump tried to remove Governor Cook and interfere with the independence of the Federal Reserve," Lowell said in a statement.

The administration, meanwhile, maintains that the alleged discrepancies raise questions about Cook's fitness to continue serving on the Fed board.

The renewed effort could ultimately force courts to confront an issue the Supreme Court left unresolved in June: whether the mortgage allegations themselves constitute "cause" under the Federal Reserve Act sufficient for a president to remove a governor.

Who is Lisa Cook?

Cook's connection to Atlanta extends well beyond the condominium now at the center of the dispute.

Born and raised in Milledgeville, Georgia, Cook attended Spelman College in Atlanta, initially studying physics and philosophy. She later graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy before studying philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar.

Cook eventually earned a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and served as an economist on President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

President Joe Biden appointed Cook to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors in 2022. She was reappointed in 2023 to a term that runs through January 2038.

Her legal fight with Mr. Trump now carries implications beyond Cook's own job. The outcome could help define the limits of presidential power over the Federal Reserve, an institution Congress designed with protections intended to insulate monetary policy from direct political control.