Hours after President Donald Trump announced he would fire Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor announced she has no plans of leaving the Fed Board of Governors any time soon.

Trump’s Truth Social announcement of her firing hinged on accusations of Cook committing mortgage fraud, which Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte leveled two weeks ago.

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Cook, a former Michigan State University professor, catapulted into the spotlight of Trump’s feud with the Fed in August after Pulte sent a criminal referral to Attorney General Pam Bondi to consider prosecuting her for mortgage fraud. Trump seized on Pulte’s referral and fired her yesterday over her allegedly false mortgage agreement statements after first calling for her to resign on Truth Social last week.

“The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote in her termination letter. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”

Cook became the first black woman on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in May 2022, when President Joe Biden nominated her to fill an unexpired term that ended in January 2024. Biden reappointed her in September 2023, before her term expired, to serve until Jan. 31, 2038. Fed governors serve 14-year terms and are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” Cook said in a statement to Politico. “I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

If Trump successfully removes Cook from her role on the board, he would have the opportunity to nominate a member of his choosing — presumably someone who could help him achieve his goal of lowering interest rates.

Trump has put pressure on the Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, since assuming office to lower interest rates. Cook has also consistently voted to hold interest rates where they are, instead of slashing them.

UNCLEAR IF LISA COOK STILL AT FED AFTER TRUMP FIRING

Adriana Kugler, who has consistently voted for holding interest rates, unexpectedly resigned from her position as board member in early August. Trump tapped Stephen Miran, the Council of Economic Advisers chairman, to fill her vacancy temporarily.

Cook served in former President Barack Obama’s administration on the Council of Economic Advisers as a senior economist on international finance, entrepreneurship, and innovation, according to her CV. She also served in the Treasury Department as a senior adviser on finance and development under former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush from September 2000 to September 2001.