Who is Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve governor targeted by Trump?

(The Hill) -- President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his pressure campaign against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, urging the board member to resign or be fired following allegations of mortgage fraud.

The effort to remove her from the position has exacerbated Trump's feud with the Federal Reserve after months of tension between the president and Fed Chair Jerome Powell around interest cuts. Though Powell signaled last week that a rate cut could be possible in September.

"I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position," Trump wrote in his letter to Cook, posted to Truth Social on Monday.

"The Federal Reserve has tremendous responsibility for setting interest rates and regulating reserve and member banks," he continued. "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 added, "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."

The accusations against Cook were prompted by Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte. Similar claims have also been raised against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who have denied wrongdoing.

Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook responds to Trump: 'I will not resign'

Cook, who has vowed not to step down, joined the independent central bank's Board of Governors in 2022 during the Biden administration, after a lengthy career as an economist and educator.

Here's what to know about the Federal Reserve governor.

First woman of color on Fed board

Cook, a Georgia native, became the first woman of color to serve on the Federal Reserve Board after former Vice President Kamala Harris cast a tie-breaking vote on May 10, 2022, to confirm her nomination.

Senate Republicans forged a bond to attempt to invoke cloture on April 26, 2022, to block her ascension to the role of governor. However, Senate Democrats — who controlled the chamber at the time — overwhelmingly backed her candidacy, citing her qualifications as a longtime public servant and global economic experience.

"We know that she understands how economic policy affects all kinds of different people in different parts of the country — from the rural South where she grew up to the industrial Midwest, where she built her career," Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in 2022.

"The cookie-cutter people we always get on the Federal Reserve ... don't know real people, and Lisa Cook knows real people," he added.

Specializes in Russian economy

Cook has spent a large portion of her career focusing on the internal and external credit markets in post-Soviet Russia, according to her bio.

She also served as an adviser on international economic matters for the Obama administration, weighing in on the Rwandan and Nigerian foreign governments.

Education

The Federal Reserve governor received her undergraduate degree from Spelman College in Atlanta. There, she studied Physics and Philosophy as a Truman scholar.

Following her tenure at the private all-girls college, she earned a spot at St. Hilda's College in Oxford, England, as a Marshall scholar focusing on philosophy, politics and economics.

Eventually, Cook went on to study abroad in Senegal at Cheikh Anta Diop University, where she received a master's degree and successfully completed a PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley in 1997.

She later become a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University, according to her bio.

Mortgage fraud accusations

Pulte accused Cook of mortgage fraud for listing two of her properties as her permanent residence.

"Lisa D. Cook, committed mortgage fraud by designating her out-of-state condo as her primary residence, just two weeks after taking a loan on her Michigan home where she also declared it as her primary residence," the FHFA director wrote last week in a post on social platform X.

He also noted that he made the appropriate referrals to the Justice Department for investigation.

Cook pushed back on the claims, saying the discrepancy was made four years prior to her joining the Board of Governors and vowed not to resign.

"I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet," she said in a statement sent to NewsNation, The Hill's sister network.

"I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts."