President Donald Trump said Friday that he will fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook if she does not resign over mortgage fraud allegations, an escalation in the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on the central bank.
Trump previously called upon Cook to step aside. She has said she has no intention to resign.
“I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign,” Trump said. “What she did was bad, so I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign.”
The remarks come after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte asked the Justice Department to consider prosecuting Cook for mortgage fraud. Pulte has said that Cook listed multiple housing units as her “primary” residence in applying for home loans.
In the letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Pulte said it appears Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”
“This has included falsifying residence statuses for an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based residence and an Atlanta, Georgia-based property in order to potentially secure lower interest rates and more favorable loan terms,” Pulte wrote.
While Pulte has gone after other officials over similar mortgage fraud allegations, Cook is of outsize interest because she is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee and one of the dozen people who dictate the direction of interest rates in the United States. Cook was nominated to the board by former President Joe Biden and previously worked in the Obama administration.
Cook has said she does not intend to resign, setting up a potential showdown with Trump following his remarks.
“I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” Cook said in a statement. “I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”
Pulte has made a name for himself in the administration by using his massive social media following to attack Powell and others. The FHFA director has also targeted some other high-profile Trump critics, most notably Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump made the comments on Friday morning, around the same time that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell delivered his much-anticipated annual address in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
