Trump fires Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook – she says she’s not going anywhere

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said that she will not resign after Donald Trump vowed to remove her from the role “immediately”.

In a letter to Cook posted to social media by the White House on Monday evening, Trump claimed there is “sufficient reason” to believe that the policymaker “made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”

Trump touted his powers under the Constitution and U.S. law to justify the unprecedented move for a president to dismiss a member of the central bank’s leadership.

The letter cited a criminal referral from William Pulte, the director of federal housing, to Attorney General Pam Bondi dated August 15. Pulte claimed Cook declared a property in Michigan as her primary residence in 2021, and then two weeks later, declared a property in Georgia as her primary residence.

Cook has not been charged with any wrongdoing or convicted of a crime.

“It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second. It is impossible that you intended to honor both,” Trump wrote in the letter to Cook, who former President Joe Biden nominated for the Fed board in 2022.

“At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”

In response, Cook released a statement through her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, on Monday evening claiming that Trump lacks the authority to fire her and she would not leave her post.

“I will not resign,” she said. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

Lowell added that they “will take whatever actions” are needed to prevent the president’s “attempted illegal action.”

Trump raged at Cook last week, the first African American woman to serve on the central bank’s board of governors, demanding she “must resign, now!!!” in a Truth Social post about the mortgage fraud allegations.

Firing back in a statement released by the Fed last Wednesday, Cook said: “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet.”

She added: “I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve, and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”

When announcing the criminal referral last week, Pulte wrote on X, “When someone commits mortgage fraud, they undermine the faith and integrity of our System. It does not matter who you are – no one is above the law.”

He claimed in the criminal referral that Cook potentially falsified documents to get better loan terms and lower interest rates, The New York Times reported.

The Times explained in another article that mortgage lenders tend to charge a higher interest rate for a second property as they believe there is more risk involved.

Pulte said in his X post that the Justice Department “should go wherever the facts may lead them.”

The removal of Cook, which Trump said was “effective immediately,” comes amid the president’s public disapproval of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump has railed against Powell for keeping interest rates the same during his second term. The Fed cut interest rates three times in late 2024 as inflation cooled in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the Fed’s last rate-setting meeting at the end of July, Cook voted alongside Powell and most of the 12 committee members to maintain U.S. interest rates.

On Friday, Powell signaled the Fed may cut interest rates in the coming months.