Lisa Cook, the embattled Federal Reserve governor, has stated that she will not resign despite President Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that she would be fired.
Cook revealed the information in a statement late Monday night, hours after Trump announced his intention to fire Cook. Nevertheless, she refused to resign from her job, claiming that the president lacked the “authority” to remove her.
“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 a statement. “I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
In a letter to Cook, Trump asserted that the Federal Reserve Act allows him to remove her at his discretion.
“As set forth in the Criminal Referral dated August 15, 2025, from Mr. William J. Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to Ms. Pamela Bondi, Attorney General of the United States…there is sufficient reason to believe you may have made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements,” Trump wrote. “For example, as detailed in the Criminal Referral, you signed one document attesting that a property in Michigan would be your primary residence for the next year.
“Two weeks later, you signed another document for a property in Georgia stating that it would be your primary residence for the next year,” Trump continued. “It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second. It is impossible that you intended to honor both.”
Trump wrote that the Federal Reserve has a “tremendous responsibility” to set interest rates and regulate banks.
He added that Americans must have full confidence in the honesty of those setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve.
“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,” Trump wrote. “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.”
He finished by demanding her immediate removal from office. Cook has not been charged with a crime.
Trump threatened to remove Cook from her position on Friday due to mortgage fraud charges being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Pulte, a staunch Trump supporter and Fed critic, prompted the probe with a criminal referral.
“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.”
Under the federal statute that governs the Federal Reserve system, the president can only remove a serving governor for cause, which has generally been viewed as misbehavior or wrongdoing rather than policy disagreements.
The president’s decision to remove Cook from her position is the first time in history that a president has attempted to remove a serving Federal Reserve governor, and it may result in a judicial battle.
The president and his allies have regularly asked the Fed to decrease interest rates to stimulate the economy and reduce the cost of servicing the United States’ more than $37 trillion national debt, but Trump has backtracked on previous threats to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Former President Joe Biden appointed Cook to the Fed in 2022, and the Senate confirmed him on a 51-47 party-line vote in September 2023. Her term as a Fed governor lasts 14 years, from 2024 to 2038.
