An ongoing struggle between President Donald Trump and the Federal Reserve just took on a new twist.
Lisa Cook, the embattled Federal Reserve governor targeted for firing by President Donald Trump, said an accusation she engaged in mortgage fraud is not “cause” for her termination, according to The New York Times.
And she’s hired Hunter Biden’s attorney to back her up.
Trump announced Monday he was firing Cook after she was the subject of a criminal referral to the Justice Department from Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Pulte alleged that Cook had engaged in mortgage fraud by claiming both her Michigan home and a condo in Atlanta as her “primary residence.” A borrower’s “primary residence” tends to be subject to lower interest rates because individuals are less likely to default on loans that involve the homes they live in.
(Pulte has sent a similar criminal referral to the DOJ targeting Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, accusing him of mortgage fraud related to residences in California and Maryland.)
UPDATE: Lisa Cook says she’s not going anywhere and Trump’s bid to fire her is baseless. https://t.co/HvPUvUvHIy pic.twitter.com/7g0tXPoWuj
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 26, 2025
Hours after Trump’s announcement, The New York Times reported, Cook struck back, declaring in a statement released through her lawyer that “no cause exists under the law” for her to be fired.
Was Trump correct to fire Lisa Cook?
“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ where no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in the 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.”
Cook’s attorney is Abbe Lowell, last seen on the national stage representing former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
One of Lowell’s failing arguments in Hunter Biden’s defense was that the charges against him were politically motivated.
On Monday, he was making a similar suggestion on Cook’s behalf.
“President Trump has taken to social media to once again ‘fire by tweet’ and once again his reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority,” he said in a statement, according to CNBC.
“We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action,” Lowell said.
The Cook situation is the latest flashpoint in a feud between Trump and the Federal Reserve that goes back to Trump’s return to the White House.
The president has been demanding the Fed lower interest rates to spur the economy, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has resisted.
The disagreement has spread into other areas, like costly renovations to the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, but the Cook controversy features an actual legal issue that could end up before the Supreme Court.
In a Tuesday piece on the conservative website National Review senior political correspondent Jim Geraghty explained that presidential powers over the Federal Reserve have not been fully adjudicated.
The Federal Reserve Act, establishing the Fed in 1913, states that governors will serve terms of 14 years “unless sooner removed for cause by the President,” which implies the president has the power to fire governors, but does not define what “cause” entails.
Does an as-yet unproven allegation that Cook engaged in mortgage fraud count as “cause”?
Some social media users apparently thought so.
While she repeatedly voted to NOT lower interest rates for us, this Fed Governor was lying on her own mortgage documents to get a lower interest rate for herself.
Let that sink in.
Arrest Lisa Cook. pic.twitter.com/rf5LweWe5R
— Kentucky Girl (@Notwokenow) August 26, 2025
Lisa Cook wouldn’t cut interest rates to help Americans afford mortgages as she was lying about her our mortgages.
Think about that…
The “elites” have their own rules.
What did Jerome Powell know and when did he know it? pic.twitter.com/QtP0nS9txP
— C3 (@C_3C_3) August 26, 2025
Democrats disagreed.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas — one of the loudest liberal voices in U.S. politics today — blasted Trump’s move as racist and sexist.
Cook is the first black woman to be a governor on the Fed board.
For the first time in 111 years, a President is planning to fire a sitting Fed governor—and of course, it’s the first Black woman, Lisa Cook.
Trump’s message is clear: when Black women rise, he’ll do anything to push us down.
Newsflash: we’re not going anywhere.
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@RepJasmine) August 26, 2025
“For the first time in 111 years, a President is planning to fire a sitting Fed governor—and of course, it’s the first Black woman, Lisa Cook,” Crockett wrote.
“Trump’s message is clear: when Black women rise, he’ll do anything to push us down.”
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