Trump says he will fire Fed governor Lisa Cook if she doesn’t resign
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he dismissed the governor of the Federal Reserve Lisa Cook if she will not resign.
“What she did was bad. So I’m going to fire her if she did not resign,” he told journalists.
Trump’s comment occurred a few days after the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, alleged that Cook had committed mortgage fraud.
In a letter to the Attorney General Pam Bondi, Pulte alleged that Cook “falsified banking documents and property files to acquire more favorable loan conditions, potentially commit mortgage fraud”.
Trump previously said Wednesday that Cook “was to resign, now !!!”
The federal reserve did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Pulte told Fox Business Network on Thursday that he believed that “the president had enough reasons to dismiss Lisa Cook”.
The only reason why a member of the Council of Governors of the Federal Reserve can be dismissed is “for good reason” or a form of reprehensible acts.
Cook answered Trump and Pulte in a statement on Wednesday: “I learned from the media that the director of the FHFA, William Pulte, posted on social networks that he made a criminal reference based on a mortgage request four years ago, before joining the federal reserve. I have no intention of being intimidated to remove from my post because of certain questions raised in a tweet.”
Cook added that she intended to “answer my financial questions seriously as a member of the federal reserve and I therefore collect precise information to answer all legitimate questions and provide the facts”.
Trump and Pulte’s attacks on Cook are the last of a long -standing pressure campaign against the central bank and its senior officials because Trump is looking for lower interest rates.
Fed’s cook’s withdrawal would open a third seat for a named against Trump. In the coming months, Trump will appoint a new president of the Fed as well as a governor. These two officials would organize a permanent vote on the rate fixing committee of 12 Fed members.
Already sitting on the Fed Board of Directors are Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller.
