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Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is not resigning, despite a letter from President Donald Trump saying he had “removed” her from the post “effective immediately.” The oddity of the situation has led to a constitutional dispute over the balance of power between the White House and the Federal Reserve.

The president shared the letter on Truth Social, five days after initially demanding her resignation on the platform. The letter says Trump was acting under the Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which “provides the President of the United States with the authority to remove any Governor of the Board of the Federal Reserve System for cause.”

Trump claims that he has “sufficient reason to believe” Cook had “made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.”

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

The allegations against Cook were first made by Bill Pulte, another Trump appointee, who is the acting director of an agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Pulte claimed Cook inappropriately listed two primary residences in 2021 to get a better mortgage deal. He listed both an Ann Arbor, Michigan, address and an Atlanta, Georgia, address as primary homes. He made the allegations on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria.”

“This is a very serious crime,” Pulte said. “It’s very odd to see people try to twist back way sideways and upside down to justify mortgage fraud. 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 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.”

Pulte filed a criminal referral to the Justice Department against Cook on August 15, in which he accuses her of falsifying bank documents and property records, but no formal charges have been brought against Cook.

Cook, who was appointed to the Federal Reserve Board in 2022 by President Joe Biden, quickly dismissed the notion that Trump has the power to fire her. “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 provided to Fox News Digital.

Cook is being represented by attorney Abbe Lowell, who is known for past clients like Hunter Biden, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump. Lowell was direct in his response to Trump’s letter. “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 in a statement.

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

Lowell also announced that he was going to file a lawsuit to formalize his challenge against Trump’s firing of Cook. “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,” Lowell said in a statement.

Top Democrats also spoke out against Trump’s attempted firing, with many calling it unconstitutional. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., all released statements on the issue.

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

Warren called the action “an authoritarian power grab,” adding, “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 stated that the move was unconstitutional and added there was no “credible evidence that she has done anything wrong.” Jeffries also placed a direct barb at Trump himself: “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 repeatedly taken shots at the Federal Reserve and its Chair Jerome Powell over interest rate policy. The president and his allies have pushed for rate cuts to both lower the cost of servicing the national debt, which currently stands at over $37 trillion, and to try and stimulate the economy.