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US President Donald Trump has said he will immediately remove Federal Reserve official Lisa Cook from her position, a major escalation in his battle against the US central bank.<\/p>\n
He said there was “sufficient reason” to believe Cook had made false statements on mortgage agreements, and cited constitutional powers which he said allowed him to remove her.<\/p>\n
In response, Cook has said Trump has no authority to fire her and she will not resign.<\/p>\n
It is an unprecedented move for the president to dismiss a member of the central bank’s leadership, and comes as Trump has put increasing pressure on the Fed – especially its chair Jerome Powell – over what he sees as an unwillingness to lower interest rates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Trump’s decision is also likely to raise legal questions, with experts suggesting the White House will need to demonstrate – potentially in court – that it had sufficient reason to fire her.<\/p>\n
“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” Cook said in a statement. <\/p>\n
“I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022,” she added.<\/p>\n
“We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent [Trump’s] attempted illegal action,” Cook’s lawyer, Abbe David Lowell, said.<\/p>\n
The Federal Reserve has not yet commented on the president’s announcement, which he made late on Monday via his social media platform Truth Social.<\/p>\n
He posted a letter addressed to Cook in which he informed her of his decision to remove her from the bank’s board of governors with immediate effect.<\/p>\n
Trump has also repeatedly floated the possibility of firing Powell.<\/p>\n
Cook is one of seven members of the Fed’s board of governors and the first African American woman to serve in the role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
According to Trump’s letter, Cook signed one document attesting that a property in Michigan would be her primary residence for the next year. <\/p>\n
“Two weeks later, you signed another document for a property in Georgia stating that it would be your primary residence for the next year,” the president said.<\/p>\n
“It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second,” he wrote. <\/p>\n
The president had called for her resignation last week over the allegation of mortgage fraud, which was first made in a public letter from housing finance regulator, Bill Pulte, a Trump ally, to Attorney General Pam Bondi.<\/p>\n
The housing finance regulator called the letter a “criminal referral” and urged the justice department to investigate. It is not clear whether an investigation has been opened.<\/p>\n
Cook told the BBC in a statement last week<\/a> that she learned of the allegations from the media, and the matter stemmed from a mortgage loan application she made four years ago before she joined the central bank.<\/p>\n “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” she said.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n If Cook or the Fed resist Trump’s decision to oust her, experts suggest it could trigger a standoff between the central bank and the White House. The Fed gained independence from the US government in 1951.<\/p>\n Trump has expressed increasing animosity at Powell, calling him a “numbskull” and a “stubborn moron” because he did not support the president’s calls for rapid, large cuts to borrowing rates.<\/p>\n