- calendar_today August 22, 2025
.
U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is not resigning despite President Donald Trump’s statement in a letter, in which he said she had been “removed” from her job, effective immediately.”
Trump posted the letter on Truth Social to Cook on Monday, just five days after first calling for her to resign on Truth Social. “Under the U.S. Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, I have the authority to remove any Governor from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors for cause.” I have determined that cause exists to remove you from your office,” Trump wrote.
In the letter, Trump also said there was “sufficient reason” to believe Cook “made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”
“I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office,” he added.
The accusation in question was originally made by Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to an agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Pulte accused Cook of listing two primary homes, one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and one in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2021 to secure better mortgage terms. Pulte made the allegations on the Fox Business show “Mornings with Maria.”
“It’s very odd to see people try to twist back way sideways and upside down to justify mortgage fraud,” Pulte said. “This is a very serious crime. Mortgage fraud carries up to 30 years in prison. I believe the president has ample cause to fire Lisa Cook. Whether he wants to do that or not is entirely up to the president. However, we will go where mortgage fraud is. If mortgage fraud is with a Republican or a Democrat, it doesn’t matter—if you commit mortgage fraud in President Trump’s America, we’re going to come after you. And Lisa Cook is no exception to that.”
Pulte wrote to the Justice Department on August 15 with a criminal referral for Cook for falsifying bank records and property records. The referral is not currently known to have produced any charges.
Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve Board in 2022 by President Joe Biden and has since been conducting her duties as Fed governor. In response to Trump’s claim that he fired her, Cook said he had no such authority to do so, and that no cause existed for her firing under the law.
“I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022,” Cook said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
Cook’s attorney is Abbe Lowell, who has represented Hunter Biden, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former President Trump and his daughter Ivanka. Lowell did not mince words in his statement to Trump’s letter. “President Trump has taken to social media to once again ‘fire by tweet,’ and once again his reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis, or legal authority. We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action,” he said.
FOX Business reached out to the Federal Reserve for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Lowell later announced a lawsuit would be filed on Cook’s behalf to officially challenge Trump’s firing.
“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis. We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action,” he said.
Several Democrats also spoke out against Trump’s letter, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., releasing statements in opposition. “The president’s actions are unconstitutional, unlawful, and completely political. There is 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 wrote.
Raskin told Axios, “What an outrage and a scandal. This is the big one constitutionally.”
Warren called the move an “authoritarian power grab” and added, “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.”
Trump has continued to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates to stimulate the economy and relieve some of the pressure on the nearly $37 trillion national debt.




