Trump Orders Removal Of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook

United States president Donald Trump on Monday said that he will remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook with immediate effect. The move marks a major escalation in his battle against the US central bank as he fired Cook, the first African-American woman to serve as a Federal Reserve governor, over claims of mortgage borrowing impropriety.

Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform removing Cook from the bank's board of governors. “I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position,” Trump said in the letter. 

The US president had called on Cook to resign on August 20 citing allegations of two of her mortgages as primary residences by U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, who was appointed by Trump. 

“At 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,” Trump wrote.

In response, Cook has asserted that Trump has no authority to fire 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," she added, BBC reported. 

Making the allegations of mortgage fraud, Trump claimed that Cook had signed one document attesting that a property in Michigan would be her 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," the president said. "It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second," he added.

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