Lisa Cook, governor of the US Federal Reserve, during the Federal Reserve Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested Tuesday that Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook’s refusal to willingly leave office after President Donald Trump said he was firing her supported the claim that she had committed mortgage fraud.
“A governor of the Federal Reserve literally signs her name and commits mortgage fraud, right?” Lutnick said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” a day after Trump told Cook he was ousting her from the central bank.
“It’s alleged that she’s committed mortgage fraud, and she says ‘I’m not going anywhere,'” Lutnick said.
“Well, the crook always says ‘I’m not going anywhere.'”
Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce speaks during the Pennsylvania Energy And Innovation Summit 2025 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on July 15, 2025.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Cook said Monday night that Trump “has no authority” to fire her because he lacked any legal cause to do so.
“I will not resign,” said Cook, who has not been charged or convicted of any crime.
She has hired high-powered Washington, D.C., attorney Abbe Lowell to fight her ouster. The Supreme Court could end up resolving the dispute.
CNBC has requested comment from Lowell on Lutnick’s statements about Cook.
The Justice Department is investigating Cook after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged she made false statements on applications for home mortgages.
Pulte has echoed Trump’s criticisms of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the central bank for refusing to lower interest rates. Cook has been among the governors voting to hold rates steady.
Lutnick on Tuesday said, “The real question should be, did she commit mortgage fraud?”
“Yes or no, and if you did commit mortgage fraud, please get out of the federal government,” he said. “Get out of the seat of the governor of the Federal Reserve and go away. You don’t deserve to be there if you’ve committed mortgage fraud, right?”
Lutnick said he did not know who had the authority to halt Cook from being paid, or to turn off her physical access to the Fed.
And he punted when asked if Trump would try to fire Powell for cause if the Fed chair did not cut off Cook’s pay and building access.
“These are all ‘what-if scenarios,'” Lutnick said.
“The answer is, the Department of Justice will go take this on and deal with this,” he said.
“But the fact is, if this woman committed mortgage fraud, she should be respectful to the United States of America, to the Federal Reserve, where she says she cared about them, and she should go off into the sunset and hope to God the police don’t follow her, right?”
“I mean, imagine anyone in the Cabinet who did this. You guys would be calling for their head,” Lutnick said.
“This woman should go away if she’s committed to mortgage fraud, and those signatures sure as heck look like hers.”