This week president Trump made history by firing Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook.
Last week, President Trump called for the resignation of Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook following allegations by the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that she committed mortgage fraud.
FHFA Director William Pulte wrote Wednesday morning on X that Cook had designated two of her houses as her primary residences.
“Lisa D. Cook, committed mortgage fraud by designating her out-of-state condo as her primary residence, just two weeks after taking a loan on her Michigan home where she also declared it as her primary residence,” he said.
Trump called for Cook to step down shortly thereafter.
“Cook must resign, now!!!” he wrote on his own social media website, Truth Social.
By Friday, Trump threatened to remove her if she did not resign.
In a letter to Cook dated Monday, Trump wrote that “you are hereby removed from your position on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, effective immediately.” The president claimed that he was removing Cook “for cause.” The Trump administration alleges that Cook may have falsified records to receive more favorable terms on a mortgage. Cook, who is the first Black woman to serve on the Board of Governors, has not been charged with a crime.
“The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”
The president has feuded with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for months, over resistance to Trump’s calls to lower interest rates. Trump has reportedly toyed with the idea of attempting to remove Powell, however the president appears poised to take no action, as Powell’s term ends in May.
In a statement to The New York Times, Cook said she has no intention of going quietly.
“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,” the statement said. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
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.
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.
