United States President Donald Trump says he will fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook if she doesn’t quit, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the central bank.
“I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign”, Trump told reporters on Friday during a visit to a Washington, DC, museum focused on the White House.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, said she had “no intention of being bullied to step down” after Trump on Wednesday called for , her resignation , on the basis of allegations about mortgages she holds in Michigan and Georgia.
Cook on Wednesday said she took any questions about her financial history seriously as a member of the Fed’s board and was gathering accurate information to answer any legitimate questions.
Asked about the matter on Friday as she attended the Fed’s annual research conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Cook said she had no further comment beyond her earlier statement.
Cook is among three Fed governors appointed by former President Joe Biden whose terms extend beyond Trump’s time in office, complicating the president’s efforts to gain more control by appointing a majority of the seven-member Board of Governors. Two of the Fed’s board members were appointed by Trump – Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chairwoman for Supervision Michelle Bowman.
Trump has repeatedly criticised Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, first over his failure to reduce benchmark interest rates and more recently over cost overruns on a renovation of a Federal Reserve building.
US Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte raised the allegations against Cook in a post on X on Wednesday, saying she had designated a condo in Atlanta, Georgia, as her primary residence after taking out a loan on her home in Michigan, which she also declared as a primary residence. Pulte told CNBC he is also investigating property Cook has in Massachusetts.
Loans for a primary residence can carry easier terms than those for second homes or investment properties. Pulte said the loans in question date to mid-2021 before Cook was appointed to the Fed and confirmed by the Senate in 2022. Cook, a native of Georgia, was an economics professor at Michigan State University at the time the mortgages were taken out.
Pulte asked US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate, and Trump quickly amplified the allegation. The Department of Justice is taking the matter very seriously, a department official told the Reuters news agency earlier this week.
Allegations ‘ cobbled together ‘
Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, blasted Trump’s attack on Cook on Friday, saying in a statement that it was a clear continuation of his ongoing effort to “undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve” and deflect attention to signs of economic challenges caused by his policies.
“Their latest target is Dr. Lisa Cook, a highly qualified, trailblazing economist, and the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors since Congress created it in 1913”, Waters said. “Let me be very clear, the allegations against Dr. Cook have been cobbled together as a pretext to try to replace her with someone who will be loyal first to Trump instead of the US Constitution or US law”.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is heading the effort to find a replacement for Powell.
Iran and three major European powers have agreed to resume nuclear talks next week, even as the threat of revived sanctions looms.
Iranian state media reported on Friday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a call with his French, British and German counterparts, during which they agreed deputy ministers would meet on Tuesday.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul confirmed the talks, warning that Europe was prepared to re-impose United Nations sanctions under the so-called “snapback” mechanism unless Iran committed to a verifiable and lasting deal. “Time is very short and Iran needs to engage substantively”, he said.
According to Iranian outlets, Araghchi rejected the threat, accusing the European trio of lacking “legal and moral competence” to trigger snapback sanctions and warning of consequences if they did so.
The three European governments, backed by the United States, have accused Tehran of advancing uranium enrichment in violation of international commitments and say its programme could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran has said its work is strictly for civilian purposes, and Western governments have not provided any evidence that Tehran is weaponising its nuclear programme.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, has said Iran remains far from building a nuclear weapon. In March, US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard testified that intelligence agencies had found no evidence of Iran moving towards a bomb.
Talks between Iran and the US collapsed in June after Washington and Israel attacked Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day conflict.
Since then, IAEA inspectors have not been allowed into Iran’s facilities, despite the agency’s chief, Rafael Grossi, stressing that inspections are essential.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned the IAEA to abandon its “double standards” if it hopes to restore cooperation over the country’s nuclear programme, amid an acute mistrust following Israeli and US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, and the UN nuclear watchdog’s refusal to condemn the strikes.
In July, Pezeshkian signed a law suspending Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA, with Tehran making it clear that it no longer trusts the agency to act impartially.
Negotiations between Tehran and the Europeans last took place in Geneva on June 20, while the fighting was still under way. Little progress was reported at the time.
This debate takes on the growing rift in President Trump’s party. Is it driven by conservative principles , or allegiance to one man?
America First was the slogan Donald Trump championed during his re-election campaign as he promised to put the interests of Americans above those of foreign governments, immigrants and large corporations. However, the United States president has made several policy decisions that have divided his electoral base. The two guests in this episode of The Stream voted for Trump in the 2024 election but now find themselves on the opposite side of several issues: economic policy, foreign military spending and the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Washington, DC, United States – Outside Union Station in the US capital, bored-looking soldiers linger near two large armoured vehicles as commuters and tourists snap photos of the unusual scene.
Inside the century-old transportation hub, a dozen National Guard soldiers pace the marble floors, appearing to be armed only with zip-tie handcuffs.
Their presence has not directly disrupted traffic, but the Trump administration’s deployment of federal forces – part of its takeover of city policing – has left Washington, DC, residents fearful and confused.
Randy Kindle, a 48-year-old Air Force veteran, called the deployment a “show”.
“It’s disrespectful to our troops to have to invade their own country essentially and be pitted against their own citizens”, Kindle told Al Jazeera outside Union Station.
He said he witnessed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in neighbouring Maryland during which the immigration agents had their own film crew.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security released a video of golden-branded ICE trucks with President Donald Trump’s name on the back featuring a rap song that says: “My heart so cold I think I’m done with ice”.
“This is a reality show for them”, Kindle said. “It’s a f****** idiocracy”.
Throughout Washington on Thursday, soldiers were seen going up and down the escalators at metro stations, chatting among themselves and loitering on street corners.
“From what I’ve seen and heard, many of the troops are standing around, many of them out in the elements, not supported with proper equipment or vehicles – frankly looking bored”, Washington Council member Zachary Parker told Al Jazeera.
“This is a manufactured crisis made up by the Trump administration for their own political gain”, Parker said.
Trump said the federalisation of Washington’s policing was necessary and aimed to combat what he described as rampant crime in the city.
But official data show that crime has seen a sharp decline in the US capital over the past few years, hitting a 30-year low in 2024, according to the US Department of Justice.
Parker warned that Trump’s move in Washington should not be taken lightly by the rest of the country.
He said that, at best, the Washington takeover may be an attempt to make Trump look tough on crime and distract from issues the US president is facing.
“A darker view of this moment is that this is a precursor of militarising American cities and streets and confronting American citizens with military might”, the council member told Al Jazeera.
“I think we ought to take this moment very seriously – both those of us here in DC, but Americans writ large”.
Trump praises the crackdown
Since the federal takeover began last week, the Trump administration has centred the issue in its public messaging.
For example, as of Friday morning, seven of the past 10 posts on X by Attorney General Pam Bondi were about Washington, DC.
Bondi has been sharing daily updates about arrests made in the city – a total of 719, including 40 on Thursday. Washington police arrested an average of 56 people daily last year, according to city data.
The Justice Department, which did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment, has not specified whether the arrests were made entirely by federal agents or whether they include law enforcement action by Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department.
But local TV channel ABC 7 News quoted federal officials as saying the numbers included arrests by all agencies in the city.
President Donald Trump speaks with members of law enforcement and National Guard soldiers on August 21, 2025, in Washington, DC]Jacquelyn Martin/AP]
It’s also not clear whether the detention of undocumented immigrants is included in the tally. Arrests made by ICE were only distinguished in Bondi’s daily announcements on Thursday and Friday.
But Trump and his aides are talking up the arrests as a considerable feat.
On Thursday evening, Trump rode around Washington with law enforcement officers in a show of control and defiance against critics of the crackdown.
“Some incredible outcomes have been achieved. … It’s like a different place. It’s like being in a different place. The capital is there. It’s going to be the best in the world”, the US president told soldiers and law enforcement officers.
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Union Station and ordered burgers from a fast food restaurant as protesters chanted against them.
Trump  first suggested federalizing law enforcement in Washington after an employee of his Department of Government Efficiency’s cost-cutting Department was assaulted early this month.
On Friday, Hegseth ordered National Guard troops in Washington to start carrying firearms, according to the Pentagon.
On August 21, 2025, an armored vehicle was parked outside Union Station in Washington, DC [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera]
Washington, why?
Since he entered politics in 2015, Trump has described major cities, which are almost all run by Democrats, as infested by crime, drugs and homelessness.
Some rural conservative beliefs toward liberal cities were echoed by that perception.
Trump has for a while threatened to send the military to dangerous cities, but the US Constitution grants state policing authority, not the federal government.
Washington, DC, however, is not a state. It has no enshrined state rights or no votes in the US Congress as the capital.
The local government has some control over the city thanks to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, but the federal government still has some authority. For example, Congress may overturn local resolutions approved by the city council.
Additionally, the law grants the president the 30-day power to take over policing in the capital.
With 92.5 percent of the ballots last year, the city has been ripe for a Trump crackdown because Kamala Harris, who won in Washington against Republican incumbent Donald Trump, has overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party.
Several residents expressed bewilderment to Al Jazeera and questioned the need for patrols by federal forces in crowded metro stations and tourist areas that are low-crime spots.
Iced out . pic . twitter.com/xhexqgmbzS
DC crime
Washington is a city of 700, 000 people with a metropolitan area that extends into suburbs in Maryland and Virginia and encompasses more than six million residents.
According to Kindle, some visitors and Republican officials prefer that Washington appear less touristy and crowded than it is.
They believe this to be Disneyland-like. This is a tourist spot. He claimed that they should be sanitized. They are seeing what their own cities would not.
Despite improvements in recent years, several residents told Al Jazeera that crime still remains a concern in Washington.
The city has a homicide rate of about 25 per 100,000 residents, which is significantly higher than the national average but lower than those in similar cities like Memphis, Tennessee and Detroit, Michigan.
Washington is not listed among the 25 most dangerous cities in the nation according to US News & World Report, which compiles crime data.
Some welcome the National Guard
With 190 incidents recorded this year so far, Washington continues to experience violent property crime, particularly juvenile carjackings.
The White House argued on its website that Washington has the fourth-highest homicide rate in the nation, “nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton,” in support of troop deployments in the city.
Leroy Miles, a 75-year-old retiree, said “it’s good” that federal forces are helping the local police.
Miles claimed he disliked Trump and called him a “crook”; however, he also alleged that local authorities had failed to do a good job of preventing crime.
“These young people are robbing and killing,” the statement read. They’re carjacking. They also require some form of outdated law and order, according to Miles, who has lived in Washington all his life.
What’s happening is that many people don’t like it but it might work, he said.
A demonstrator holds a one-person protest outside Union Station on August 21, 2025]Ali Harb/Al Jazeera]
Less secure, then.
Parker argued that Washington’s absence of a crime crisis “does not mean that we don’t have more work to do.”
“There are ways in which our local government can productively work with the federal government”, Parker said.
“And what is happening here, where there are National Guards, people deployed, and federal officers, including those from other states, is not the way. This is not the proper course of action.
He underscored that the Republican-controlled Congress has cut and so far failed to restore $1bn in funding for Washington – money that would go to fighting crime, paying police officers and supporting city services that enhance public safety.
The council member praised the National Guard’s soldiers, who are frequently called on to assist in emergencies and natural disasters, but warned that bringing in outsiders to policing the city could erode trust between the citizens and law enforcement.
“I already notice it,” I have heard directly from residents who are second-guessing calling 911 in instances of true emergencies for fear of what’s going to be the outcome or who might show up at their door”, he said.
Parents are complaining that their kids’ first day of school is the following week, and I’m hearing from them. Residents who are voicing their opposition to ICE patrols’ plans to criminalize our neighbors are speaking out.
Parker said the federal crackdown is making Washington “less safe”.
[Ali Harb/Al Jazeera] US National Guard members entering Union Station
We are ‘We are ‘numb’ to it.
A Washington Post poll released on Wednesday suggested 80 percent of Washington residents oppose “Trump taking control of DC’s police and federal troops patrolling the streets” while 72 percent of respondents favour the city becoming a state.
Another factor causing protests against the Trump takeover is the loss of local control in a place where tax-paying citizens lack federal voting rights.
According to Parker, “We have allowed the disenfranchisement of Washingtonians, and now there is an effort to undermine the local autonomy we do have.”
Wes, a Washington resident who wished to be identified by his first name only, citing fear of reprisal by the government, warned that the tensions around the issue could boil over.
“We’re hysterical,” You have people who are afraid to leave their homes, Wes said outside the Columbia Heights metro station, which had been heavily ICE-occupied earlier this week.
“You got people scared to walk the streets like they used to because of this show of force. We have no faith in the police in this place. You now bring a person who we don’t know but who is completely untrained. They’re not even from here. They are ignorant of how this city operates.
He claimed that Trump would be to blame for the rise in riots and violent riots as people become angry with excessive policing and social programs.
In one of Europe’s oldest spa towns, Baile Herculane, graffiti encircles the crumbling walls of the main thermal baths.
A dedicated team of young architects is now working to revive the picturesque Romanian resort, which once attracted emperors to its healing waters, despite decades of neglect.
Oana Chirila, a 31-year-old architect, once said, “Someone once said that if you drink water from the spring from Herculane, you never leave.”
The town in southwest Romania, which is surrounded by mountains and a river, was “amazed by the beauty of the place” she remarked. She continued, referring to the deterioration of the historic thermal baths, “and at the same time, I was shocked by its condition.”
Chirila claimed that she had a chance when she first went to Baile Herculane eight years ago.
One of the recent civil society initiatives to protect Romania’s historic monuments is the restoration project led by her group.
Around 800 of these monuments have advanced to the point where they could completely collapse. Some already present significant risk to public safety.
The Neptune Imperial Baths, which were built in 1886, once attracted prestigious clients seeking the warm sulfur treatments.
Franz Joseph, the Austrian Emperor, and his wife Elisabeth, also known as Sisi, were among these illustrious visitors. The town was referred to as Europe’s “most beautiful spa resort” by Franz Joseph.
The bathrooms are closed as of right now, with graffiti on the walls, debris on the floors, and rain seeping through the ceiling.
Tourists frequently take a moment to admire and photograph the long, rusted facade, with some attempting to see the interior through cracked windows.
Chirila and her volunteer team are currently limited to the exterior of the baths’ structure. She explained that full restoration cannot be accomplished until legal disputes between government and private owners are resolved. “There’s always this fear that it might collapse,” she continued.
The majority of historical monuments are currently in their current state, which means they are constantly in decay, which prevents the use of public or European funds for restoration.
Visitors can currently enjoy three “little bathtubs” of sulfur along one side of the riverbank.
One of the numerous projects her team has completed throughout the town was to renovate these basins and build wooden changing areas.
According to local officials, Baile Herculane, which has 3,800 residents, has seen a steady increase in tourism in recent years. In 2024, 160, 000 tourists visited, up from 90, 000 in 2020, many of whom were looking for both hiking and climbing opportunities.
John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, was searched by the FBI in the United States. He later became a frequent critic.
The raid, according to reports on Friday, was a part of a national security investigation into Bolton’s handling of classified information. In Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC, police cars were spotted outside Bolton’s home.
In a social media post on Friday that didn’t explicitly mention Bolton but made reference to FBI agents who were “on mission,” “NO ONE is above the law,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.
Trump, on the other hand, denied knowing about the burglary at Bolton’s home.
“No, I’m not aware of it.” Trump continued, “I didn’t like John Bolton, I just saw it on television this morning.” He has a true, lowlife quality.
The Trump administration is now launching investigations and threats against rivals and critics, with the raid on Bolton’s home occurring.
During Trump’s first term in office, Bolton served as a hawkish foreign policy advisor under various Republican administrations. During the administration of former President George W. Bush, he was viewed as a strong supporter of the US invasion of Iraq.
He frequently appears on US news programs to criticize Trump and his policies, though. Bolton also scathingly criticized his time in the Trump White House in his memoir, The Room Where It Happened.
Bolton wrote of Trump, “He couldn’t tell the difference between his personal interests and those of the country.”
Trump has also criticized Bolton for his aggressive foreign policy stance. He referred to Bolton as a ominous presence at meetings with foreign leaders on Friday.
He actually doesn’t speak. Trump called him quiet. Because they would say, “Oh no, they’re going to get blown up because John Bolton’s is there,” I would enter a room with him and enter with him with a foreign country.
According to a Reuters report, an FBI spokesman confirmed “court-authorised activity” on Friday in the neighborhood where Bolton’s residence was occurring.
Bolton was seen in a building where he worked in Washington, DC on Friday, according to The Associated Press. He was spotted speaking  with two people wearing “FBI” vests.
The rear entrance to the building was where agents were later spotted bringing bags inside, according to the news agency.
The Trump administration has not faced Bolton before in this regard. On his first day back in the White House, Trump canceled Bolton’s security clearance in January.
The security detail that was assigned to Bolton’s protection was then removed a few days later.
Bolton once said, “I am disappointed but not surprised.” Trump, for his part, referred to Bolton as a “very stupid person” and questioned why the former adviser would require government protection for the rest of his life.
Bolton claimed this month that Trump had used the government’s influence to retaliate against his political rivals in an interview with ABC News, saying, “I think it is a retribution presidency.”
Trump, however, repeatedly denied knowing about the raid and attributed the decision-making power of his department of justice to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
I tell Pam and the group that we don’t want to learn more about this. You must carry out your obligations. I’m not interested in learning more about it. Trump remarked, “It’s not necessary.” I might be aware of it. It might start with me. The chief law enforcement officer is actually me. However, I think this is how things should be.
He added that he anticipated receiving updates on the raid later that day. Additionally, he criticized Bolton in some ways.
He is not intelligent, he claims. He might be very anti-patriotic, in some ways. Trump stated, “We’re going to find out.”
The Department of Justice has also opened inquiries into a number of Trump critics, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who sued the president and his business, the Trump Organization.
