Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is refusing to resign despite President Donald Trump saying in a letter that she was “removed” from her position “effective immediately.” The president posted the letter to Cook on Truth Social just five days after he demanded her resignation in a different post on the same platform.
Trump cited his authority under the Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 as justifications for his decision to remove Cook. The Federal Reserve Act establishes the president’s ability to remove governors from the board “for cause.” The president said in his letter that there was “sufficient reason” to think Cook “made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”
The president also said he had “determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office.”
The allegations stem from Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to an agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Pulte accused Cook of claiming two primary residences, one in Ann Arbor and another in Atlanta in 2021 with the goal of getting better mortgage terms.
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“It’s very odd to see people try to twist back way sideways and upside down to justify mortgage fraud. This is a very serious crime. Mortgage fraud. It carries up to 30-year prison sentences,” Pulte told “Mornings with Maria” on Monday.
“I believe the president has ample cause to fire Lisa Cook. Whether he wants to do that or not is entirely up to the president. However, we will go where mortgage fraud is. If mortgage fraud is with Republican or Democrat, it doesn’t matter if you commit mortgage fraud in President Trump’s America, we’re going to come after you. And Lisa Cook is no exception to that.”
On Aug. 15, Pulte sent the Justice Department a criminal referral regarding Cook in which he accused her of falsifying bank documents and property records.
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“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022,” Cook, who was appointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2022, said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
Cook is being represented by attorney Abbe Lowell, whose notable clients have included Hunter Biden, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, among others.
“President Trump has taken to social media to once again ‘fire by tweet’ and once again his reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority. We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action,” Lowell said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
FOX Business reached out to the Federal Reserve for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., slammed Trump’s attempt to fire Cook.
“What an outrage and a scandal. This is the big one constitutionally,” Raskin told Axios.
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Meanwhile, Warren called the act “an authoritarian power grab,” claiming that “Trump is desperately looking for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans and firing Lisa Cook is his latest move.”
Jeffries also slammed Trump’s attempt to fire Cook, saying there was not “a shred of credible evidence that she has done anything wrong.”
“To the extent anyone is unfit to serve in a position of responsibility because of deceitful and potentially criminal conduct, it is the current occupant of the White House. The American people are not buying your phony projection and slander of a distinguished public servant,” Jeffries’ statement read.
Trump’s attempt to fire Cook comes as he continues a bitter face-off with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over interest rates. The president and his allies have repeatedly called on the Fed to cut interest rates in an effort to boost the economy and lower the cost of servicing the national debt, which is over $37 trillion.
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