The bizarre sprint ahead of next week's Fed meeting

President Trump's unprecedented bid to wrest greater control of the Federal Reserve barreled toward a suspense-filled conclusion Wednesday amid two parallel efforts to decide who will be able to participate at next week's interest-rate meeting.

- Nick Timiraos

Late Tuesday, a federal judge granted Fed governor Lisa Cook an injunction that temporarily halted Trump's attempt to remove her. The decision was a crucial legal victory for Cook—and the central bank's independence more broadly—because it allows her to remain in her job, at least for now. It clears the path for her to vote at a consequential Fed meeting next week, when officials are expected to make their first interest-rate cut of the year.

On Wednesday morning, attention shifted to the Senate Banking Committee, where Republicans rushed to confirm a Trump adviser, Stephen Miran, to fill a separate vacancy on the Fed's board, setting up the possibility of a Senate floor vote as soon as this week that would allow him to join the same meeting.

A quarter-point rate cut at next week's meeting is widely expected after a string of lackluster employment readings this summer. Cook has consistently aligned with Fed Chair Jerome Powell on policy decisions. It couldn't be determined if Miran would vote for a larger rate cut because he hasn't discussed specific preferences.

Beyond the immediate vote, meeting attendance matters because officials will submit new quarterly economic projections that shape market expectations about their next steps.

Cook's legal challenge has quickly become the defining battle in Trump's effort to reshape the relationship between the White House and the Fed. Congress restructured the central bank in the 1930s to insulate presidentially appointed governors from political pressure, giving them 14-year terms and protection from removal except "for cause."

The high inflation of the 1970s helped fashion a broad consensus that the Fed should operate independently from the executive branch. In the decades since, that consensus has faced periodic challenges from lawmakers and commentators, but never such a direct assault from the president himself.