Lisa Cook said that she would not step down from the Federal Reserve, hours after President Trump said that he was taking the extraordinary step of removing her from the central bank’s board of governors.
Mr. Trump announced the firing, which he said was effective immediately, earlier on Monday. He cited allegations that Ms. Cook may have falsified records in order to obtain favorable terms on a mortgage, even though she has not been charged with wrongdoing or convicted of a crime.
In a statement released through her lawyer on Monday evening, Ms. Cook said that “no cause exists under the law” for Mr. Trump to fire her.
“I will not resign,” she said. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
Her lawyer, Abbe David Lowell, added: “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”
Ms. Cook was initially appointed to the board of governors to fill an unexpired term. She was reappointed in 2023, and her full term is set to end in January 2038.
To fire Ms. Cook, Mr. Trump invoked a power in the Fed’s founding statute that allows him to remove members of the board with cause. He justified the maneuver, a legally dubious one that could undermine the independence of the central bank, by claiming that the allegations of mortgage fraud compromised Ms. Cook’s ability to perform as an effective financial regulator.
Mr. Trump has made no secret about his desire to remake the roster of the Federal Reserve, relentlessly attacking the central bank and its members in the hopes they will lower borrowing costs.
Until recently, he was focused on Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair. But his attention recently turned to Ms. Cook. Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, last week accused her of falsifying records to obtain more favorable terms on mortgages, and said the agency had referred the issue to the Justice Department.
Mr. Trump’s decision to remove Ms. Cook from the Fed could be legally challenged. Ms. Cook was confirmed by the Senate in 2022 and is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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