President Donald Trump said Friday he will fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook if she doesn’t resign over mortgage fraud allegations, an escalation in the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on the central bank.
Trump had previously called upon Cook to step aside. Cook has said she has not intentions of resigning.
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“I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign. What she did was bad, so I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign,” Trump said.
The remarks come after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte asked the Justice Department to consider prosecuting Cook for mortgage fraud. Pulte has said that Cook listed multiple housing units as her “primary” residence in applying for home loans.
In the letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Pulte said it appears Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”
Trump made the comments on Friday morning, around the same time that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell delivered his much-anticipated annual address in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
This story is breaking and will be updated.