Trump 'fires' Fed's Lisa Cook; she says President has 'no authority'

US President Donald Trump on Monday said he was firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over alleged improprieties in obtaining mortgage loans, an unprecedented step that could test the boundaries of presidential power over the independent monetary policy body should it be challenged in court.

- MICHAEL S DERBY & HOWARD SCHNEIDER

Trump said in a letter to Cook, the first African-American woman to serve on the Federal Reserve's governing body, that he had "sufficient cause to remove you from your position" because in 2021 Cook indicated on documents for separate mortgage loans on properties in Michigan and Georgia that both were a primary residence where she intended to live.

Cook responded several hours later in a statement emailed to reporters through the law office of lawyer Abbe Lowell, saying of Trump that "no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority" to remove her from the job she was appointed to by former US President Joe Biden in 2022. "I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy." Lowell said that Trump's "demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority. We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent this attempted illegal action."