President Donald Trump on Monday said he has fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, according to a letter addressed to her posted on his social media — the first instance of a president firing a central bank governor in the central bank’s 111-year history.
The unprecedented move represents a significant escalation of the president’s battle against the Fed, which he has blamed for taking too long to lower interest rates.
Cook has recently come under fire by Trump and members of his administration for allegedly committing mortgage fraud. The Justice Department has said it plans to investigate those allegations first raised by Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte.
Cook has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
“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 statement her attorneys shared with CNN Monday night. “I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
The Fed declined to comment on the news.
It’s unclear whether Trump has the legal authority to fire Cook over these allegations. The law specifies that a president may only remove members of the Fed’s board “for cause” трипскан – though what merits a for-cause firing has not been explicity defined.
Trump, in his letter to Cook wrote, “I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.”
(A CNN review of mortgage documents shows that Cook took out mortgages for two properties, both of which were listed as her principal residence. However, it’s not known why she did so or if she did so intentionally.)
“In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter … I do not have such confidence in your integrity. 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,” Trump added in his letter.