The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System building in Washington D.C. on Aug. 26, 2025.
Erin Doherty | CNBC
The Federal Reserve was mum on Tuesday when asked whether Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook was at her office — or working remotely — a day after President Donald Trump said he had fired her.
The Fed’s press office and Cook’s high-powered lawyer, Abbe Lowell, did not reply when CNBC asked if she was working Tuesday, and if so, where.
Security at the central bank’s headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., likewise would not say whether Cook was in the building.
On Monday night, Cook said that she would remain in her job despite Trump’s having told her in a letter posted on Truth Social earlier in the evening that he was removing her “for cause.”
The president cited allegations by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that Cook had made false statements on home mortgage applications, which are being investigated by the Justice Department.
Lisa Cook takes the oath of office to serve as a member of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve System during a ceremony at the William McChesney Martin Jr. Building of the Federal Reserve May 23, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
“I will not resign,” Cook said in a statement late Monday. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
Cook, who is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, said that Trump did not have the authority to remove her because there was no legal cause for him to do so.
Pulte as evidence has pointed to documents that Cook allegedly signed for properties in Michigan and Georgia, which claimed they were each her primary residence. He accused Cook her of “falsifying residence statuses … “in order to potentially secure lower interest rates and more favorable loan terms.”
It is unclear how Pulte acquired the applications, and Cook has not been charged with any crime.
Lowell, in his own statement Monday, said, “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”
The Federal Reserve’s media office has not commented on Trump’s announcement.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that he did not know who had the authority to halt Cook’s paycheck or her access to the Federal Reserve buildings.
Lutnick demurred when asked if Trump could fire Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for cause if Powell continued to authorize Cook’s paycheck and access after the president had said she was fired.
“These are all ‘what-if scenarios,’ ” Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“The answer is, the Department of Justice will go take this on and deal with this,” he said.
If Trump succeeds in removing Cook and confirming her replacement, then the majority of the seven members of the Fed’s board would be Trump nominees.
