Lisa Cook Retains Seat on Fed Board, Defying Trump’s Demand

Lisa Cook Retains Seat on Fed Board, Defying Trump’s Demand
  • calendar_today August 22, 2025
  • Business

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Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is not stepping down after President Donald Trump issued a letter claiming that he had “removed” Cook “effective immediately.”

The unprecedented move has raised constitutional questions as Trump continues his battle with the Fed over interest rate policy.

The letter to Cook, published by Trump on Truth Social, comes after he demanded her resignation on the social media platform last week.

Trump’s letter cited “the United States Constitution and Section 10B(2) of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913,” which “permit the removal from office of any individual serving on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ‘for cause,’” the letter reads.

“I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office. The available information indicates that there is sufficient reason to believe that you have made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements,” he said.

The charges against Cook first arose from Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In an interview with Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” Pulte leveled the charges against Cook.

“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 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.”

On Aug. 15, Pulte also filed a criminal referral with the Justice Department, accusing Cook of making false statements in bank documents and property records. No charges have been filed yet in that matter.

Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve Board in 2022 by former President Joe Biden.

“I was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve a 14-year term. 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. 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 provided to Fox News Digital.

Cook is being represented by Abbe Lowell, the high-profile lawyer who has also represented Hunter Biden, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump.

“The last thing this country needs is for a defeated, power-grasping former President to threaten the independence of the Federal Reserve and target one of its distinguished Governors,” Abbe Lowell said in a statement. “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.”

FOX Business reached out to the Fed for comment but did not receive a response.

Lowell, who is also the managing partner of the law firm, then announced that he would be filing a lawsuit to formally challenge the president.

“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.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., were just some of the Democrats who also spoke out against the move.

“What an outrage and a scandal. This is the big one constitutionally,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told Axios.

Warren released a statement that described Trump’s actions as “an authoritarian power grab.”

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,” Warren’s statement read.

Jeffries was even more aggressive in his critique, saying that 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.

Trump has repeatedly clashed with Fed Chair Jerome Powell over interest rate policy. The president has continually pressured the Federal Reserve to cut rates to stimulate the economy and lower the cost of the national debt, which now tops $37 trillion.