President Trump said on Friday that he would fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, if she did not resign her post, as he looked to leverage new allegations around her past mortgage applications in a bid to remake the top ranks of the nation’s central bank.
Mr. Trump issued his latest threat, which would most likely face severe legal obstacles, two days after Bill Pulte, the federal housing director, accused Ms. Cook of falsifying records to obtain favorable loan terms. Mr. Pulte referred the matter to the Justice Department, a representative of which said the case “requires further examination.”
While the two men have criticized Ms. Cook for her actions, and Mr. Pulte has insisted his primary goal is to root out fraud, they have each done so in the context of an expanding campaign to oust officials on the Fed’s Board of Governors, including its chair, Jerome H. Powell.
By forcing out sitting governors, the president could appoint a set of loyalists who share his desire to lower interest rates, which the central bank has kept steady in response to persistent concerns about inflation. Mr. Trump has already announced one nominee for the board, tapping Stephen Miran, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, for the spot that Adriana Kugler abruptly vacated this month. Ms. Kugler's term was initially set to end in January, and Mr. Miran, a critic of the Fed, will need to be confirmed by the Senate.
Many legal experts believe that Mr. Trump cannot easily fire any Fed board member, including Ms. Cook, who has not been convicted of wrongdoing. The law that charters the Fed allows the president to dismiss policymakers for cause, which is generally interpreted to mean gross professional negligence or malfeasance. It is a broad term that has little legal precedent, suggesting that it could be difficult to prove. The Supreme Court signaled this year that it viewed the Fed differently than other independent agencies whose officials the president has removed.
“I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign,” Mr. Trump told reporters in Washington when asked about Ms. Cook’s fate.
Ms. Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, said in her only comments on the matter this week that she had “no intention of being bullied” but pledged to gather “accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”
Mr. Trump’s threat came as Mr. Powell delivered one of his most closely watched speeches at an exclusive economic policy gathering in Jackson, Wyo. The conference, which brings together central bankers from around the world, government officials and academics, has been overshadowed this year by the administration’s attacks on the Fed.
In his final remarks at the conference before his term as chair ends in May, Mr. Powell sent his strongest signal that the central bank is preparing to provide relief to borrowers as soon as the next policy meeting next month.
But even after the Fed restarts interest rate reductions, the institution is likely to remain the focus of the president’s ire. Mr. Powell said on Friday that the Fed would “proceed carefully” with cuts, suggesting that the bank would not reduce interest rates quickly or by much if the economy evolved as expected. The president, meanwhile, wants interest rates to be 3 percentage points lower.
Up until this point, Mr. Trump had focused much of his anger at Mr. Powell, calling him a litany of disparaging names and questioning his handling of the economy. Over the summer, the administration seized on renovations at the Fed’s headquarters in Washington. The sprawling project is running about $700 million over budget and is set to cost $2.5 billion, prompting Mr. Trump to question whether fraud had been committed.
At the end of last month, the president visited the active construction site with a group of his allies, which ended in Mr. Powell and Mr. Trump sparring over the costs of the renovations on camera. Privately, Mr. Pulte even tried to persuade the president to fire Mr. Powell, though Mr. Trump ultimately said he would not do so.
Mr. Trump and his aides have raised similar investigations of mortgage fraud against his other political rivals, including Senator Adam B. Schiff of California, who led congressional inquiries into Mr. Trump during his first term, and Letitia James, the New York attorney general, who won a civil fraud trial against Mr. Trump before he returned to office.