.

President Donald Trump has said he “removed” Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook “effective immediately,” though she refused to resign in the face of Trump’s letter on Tuesday.

Trump posted the letter to Cook on Truth Social, five days after initially demanding her resignation on the platform. In the letter, Trump, citing the U.S. Constitution, wrote that he had “removed” Cook from her position at the Federal Reserve Board “effective immediately” for making “false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”

In his letter, Trump also cited the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which does in fact give presidents the authority to remove governors from the Fed’s Board “for cause.”

Trump said he had a “sufficient reason” to believe Cook had made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements and wrote: “I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office.”

The president’s accusation of “false statements” made by Cook was based on a criminal referral by Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to an agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In an interview with Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” Pulte made clear that he believed the allegations against Cook were serious and actionable.

“It’s very odd to see people try to twist back way sideways and upside down to justify mortgage fraud,” Pulte said. “This is a very serious crime. Mortgage fraud carries up to 30 years in prison. I believe the president has ample cause to fire Lisa Cook. Whether he wants to do that or not is entirely up to the president. However, we will go where mortgage fraud is. If mortgage fraud is with Republican or Democrat, it doesn’t matter—if you commit mortgage fraud in President Trump’s America, we’re going to come after you. And Lisa Cook is no exception to that.”

Pulte turned in the criminal referral against Cook to the Justice Department on Aug. 15, in which he accused Cook of falsifying bank documents as well as property records. Formal charges have not yet been filed.

Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve Board in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden. Cook, in a statement to Fox News Digital, vehemently pushed back against Trump’s claim to have the power to fire her from her position.

“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. 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 said.

Cook is represented by attorney Abbe Lowell, who has previously represented Hunter Biden and New York Attorney General Letitia James as well as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Lowell had strong words for Trump following the release of his letter on Tuesday.

“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. We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action,” Lowell said in a statement.

FOX Business reached out to the Federal Reserve for comment on Trump’s claim to have “removed” Cook from her position on the Board, but officials did not immediately respond.

Lowell later confirmed that he would be filing a lawsuit on Cook’s behalf to challenge Trump’s action. “President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis. We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action,” Lowell said.

Democrats quickly leapt to Cook’s defense, decrying Trump’s attempted move as both unconstitutional and retaliatory. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. All put out statements in defense of Cook in light of Trump’s letter.

Raskin told Axios: “What an outrage and a scandal. This is the big one constitutionally.”

Warren characterized Trump’s move as “an authoritarian power grab” and suggested that “Trump is desperately looking for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans, and firing Lisa Cook is his latest move.”

Jeffries said in a statement, “Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has a sterling reputation, and there is not a shred of credible evidence that she has done anything wrong. Governor Cook will not resign. To the extent anyone is unfit to serve in a position of responsibility because of deceitful and potentially criminal conduct, it is the current occupant of the White House. The American people are not buying your phony projection and slander of a distinguished public servant.”

The attempted move by Trump to fire Cook, while she has yet to be charged, let alone convicted of any crime, comes as he is openly feuding with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump and his allies have openly called on Powell to cut interest rates to artificially stimulate the economy and to lower the cost of servicing the nation’s debt, which surpassed $37 trillion last week.