United States President Donald Trump has intensified his effort to gain influence over the central bank, saying he will fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook if she doesn’t quit.
“I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign,” Trump told reporters on Friday during a visit to a Washington, DC, museum focused on the White House.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, has said she has “no intention of being bullied to step down” after Trump called for her resignation on Wednesday.
The allegations against Cook were raised by US Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, who claimed that Cook had designated a condo in Atlanta, Georgia, as her primary residence after taking out a loan on her home in Michigan, which she also declared as a primary residence.
Pulte asked US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate, and Trump quickly amplified the allegation. The Department of Justice is taking the matter very seriously, a department official told Reuters earlier this week.
Cook said she took any questions about her financial history seriously as a member of the Fed’s board and was gathering accurate information to answer any legitimate questions.
Asked about the matter on Friday as she attended the Fed’s annual research conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Cook said she had no further comment beyond her earlier statement.
Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, blasted Trump’s attack on Cook, saying it was a clear continuation of his ongoing effort to “undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve” and deflect attention to signs of economic challenges caused by his policies.
Cook is among three Fed governors appointed by former President Joe Biden whose terms extend beyond Trump’s time in office, complicating the president’s efforts to gain more control by appointing a majority of the seven-member Board of Governors.
Two of the Fed’s board members were appointed by Trump – Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chairwoman for Supervision Michelle Bowman.
Trump has repeatedly criticised Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, first over his failure to reduce benchmark interest rates and more recently over cost overruns on a renovation of a Federal Reserve building.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is heading the effort to find a replacement for Powell.
Trump is pushing for early Senate confirmation of loyalist Stephen Miran, head of the Council of Economic Advisers, whom he nominated for a temporary seat on the Fed board, replacing Adriana Kugler.
Kugler, the first Latina on the board, resigned abruptly this month, months before her term was due to end.