President Donald Trump said on Monday evening that he had removed a governor of the Federal Reserve Board in a move that has been described as “unprecedented.”
Trump took to social media to share a letter he said was addressed to Lisa Cook, who was appointed to the rate-setting body during the Joe Biden administration.
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The apparent move followed months of a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies to remake the board of the Federal Reserve, with the president blaming high interest rates for high home prices and borrowing costs for consumers and the federal government itself.
“I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position,” Trump said in the letter he posted on Truth Social.
Trump cited a criminal referral made by Bill Pulte, the chair of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, over allegations of possible mortgage fraud.
Pulte said Cook purchased two properties within two weeks, claiming that both properties — one in Michigan and one in Georgia—would be her primary residence in the loan applications.
The dismissal is disputed, and Cook said in a statement that she would not resign and had not committed wrongdoing.
“I will not resign,” she said in a statement. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
On Tuesday, Cook’s attorney said in a statement that she would challenge the attempt in court.
“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,” Cook’s attorney said in a statement. “We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action.”
Trump set his sights on Cook after months spent trying to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign. Trump and Pulte blame Powell for a variety of economic ills, while Powell and his supporters say the Fed is carrying out its mandate of keeping inflation in check and achieving maximum employment.
Like two other Trump administration opponents whom Pulte has accused of mortgage fraud — New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff — Cook has not been formally charged with a crime.
The Supreme Court reiterated in May that Trump — who appointed Powell as Fed chair in 2017 — can’t remove him or other Fed governors without cause.
A court challenge by Cook’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, could set the stage for a test of presidential power.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, supports Cook’s desire to continue serving on the Federal Reserve Board.
“The illegal attempt to fire Lisa Cook is the latest example of a desperate President searching for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans,” Warren said in a statement. “It’s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that Cook plans to challenge Trump’s order in court, and to include a statement by Sen. Elizabeth Warren supporting Cook’s position.
