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Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said she won’t resign from her position after President Donald Trump claimed in a letter posted on Truth Social that he “removed” her from the position “effective immediately.”

The highly unusual dispute between Trump and Cook has already kicked off a constitutional argument over presidential power and the Fed’s independence, which Trump is challenging.

Trump posted a letter to Cook on Truth Social, five days after first publicly demanding her resignation on the social media platform. In his letter, Trump claimed he has “the authority to remove you from office, and to replace you, as President of the United States under Article II of the Constitution of the United States and under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.”

The act, he argued, empowers the president to remove Fed governors from the Board “for cause.” As such, he contended, there was “sufficient reason to believe” that Cook “made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”

“Accordingly, I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office,” Trump wrote.

Cook’s alleged conduct was reported by Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Pulte accused Cook of fraudulently claiming to have two primary residences in 2021 in Ann Arbor and Atlanta in order to get a more favorable mortgage interest rate.

Appearing on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” Pulte said: “It’s very odd to see people try to twist back way sideways and upside down to justify mortgage fraud. 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 a 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.”

On August 15, Pulte filed a criminal referral to the Justice Department, in which he accused Cook of falsifying bank documents as well as real estate and property records.

The referral has not resulted in any formal charges being filed.

Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve Board in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden. She fired back at Trump after his announcement, saying his claim of firing her was “false.”

“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 in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

Cook is being represented by Abbe Lowell, the attorney who also represented Hunter Biden, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. After Trump’s letter, Lowell was not mincing words.

“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.

FOX Business reached out to the Federal Reserve for comment, but officials did not immediately respond.

Lowell later announced that he would be filing a lawsuit on Cook’s behalf to formally challenge the former president’s removal.

“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,” he said.

Democrats Slam Trump’s Move, Call It a Power Grab

Key Democrats swiftly came to Cook’s defense. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., all released statements on the matter.

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

Warren similarly condemned the attempt as “an authoritarian power grab,” and said 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 also weighed in, saying, “There is not a shred of credible evidence that she has done anything wrong. 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.”

Trump has also been in a spat with Powell over interest rates. The president and his allies have been pressuring the central bank to lower interest rates to stimulate the economy and lower the cost of servicing the national debt, which has swelled to more than $37 trillion.

It remains to be seen whether Cook will ultimately have to give up her post on the Federal Reserve Board, but with Cook vowing to stay and challenge Trump, with her attorney Lowell saying a lawsuit was coming, and with Democrats uniformly condemning the move, Trump’s effort could soon transform into a very high-profile fight over presidential power.