President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors if she doesn’t resign from her role.
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is facing mortgage fraud allegations that are under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) after a criminal referral by Federal Housing Finance Agency head Bill Pulte, a staunch Trump ally and critic of the Fed.
“I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “What she did was bad.”
Pulte sent his referral to the DOJ on Wednesday and accused her of having “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”
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Pulte alleged that Cook falsely claimed primary residence status for a pair of homes located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta when she obtained mortgages on them 14 days ago.
In a separate post, he published pictures purporting to show her signature from the documents, which he captioned as claiming primary residence status, though the images don’t contain that information.
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Cook pushed back on Pulte’s allegations and referral in a statement provided to FOX Business by the Federal Reserve.
“I learned from the media that FHFA Director William Pulte posted on social media that he was making a criminal referral based on a mortgage application from four years ago, before I joined the Federal Reserve,” Cook said.
“I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet. 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.”
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Under federal law governing the Federal Reserve system, the president can only remove a sitting governor for cause, which has historically been interpreted as applying to malfeasance or misconduct, rather than policy disagreements.
If Trump follows through with his threat to fire Cook if she refuses to resign, it would mark the first time in history that a president has attempted to remove a sitting Federal Reserve governor, and it could lead to a legal battle.
The president and his allies have repeatedly urged the Fed to cut interest rates in an effort to boost the economy and lower the cost of servicing the more than $37 trillion U.S. national debt, though Trump has backed off past threats to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Cook was appointed to the Fed by President Joe Biden in 2022 and was confirmed by the Senate on a party-line vote of 51-47 in September 2023. Her term as a Fed governor runs 14 years, from 2024 to 2038.
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