FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook speaks at the Economic Club of New York in New York City, U.S., June 25, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he would fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook if she doesn't resign, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the U.S. central bank.

"I'll fire her if she doesn't resign," Trump told reporters during a visit to a Washington museum focused on the White House.

Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed board, said she had "no intention of being bullied to step down" after Trump on Wednesday called for her resignation on the basis of allegations about mortgages she holds in Michigan and Georgia.

Cook on Wednesday said she took any questions about her financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and was gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions.

Cook is among three Fed governors appointed by President Joe Biden whose terms extend beyond Trump's time in office, complicating the president's efforts to gain more control by appointing a majority of its seven-member Board of Governors. Two of the Fed's remaining six board members were appointed by Trump - Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term as chair ends in May 2026, first over his failure to reduce benchmark interest rates and more recently over cost overruns on a renovation of the Federal Reserve building.

U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte raised the allegations in a tweet on X on Wednesday that Cook had designated a condo in Atlanta as her primary residence after taking a loan on her home in Michigan, which she also declared as a primary residence. Pulte told CNBC he is also probing property Cook has in Massachusetts.

Loans for a primary residence can carry easier terms than those for second homes or investment properties. Pulte said the loans in question date to mid-2021, before Cook was appointed to the Fed by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate the following year. Cook, a native of Georgia, was an economics professor at Michigan State University at the time the mortgages were taken out.

Pulte asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate, and Trump quickly amplified the allegation. The Justice Department is taking the matter very seriously, a department official told Reuters earlier this week.

Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, blasted Trump's attack on Cook on Friday, saying in a statement that it was a clear continuation of his ongoing effort to "undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve" and deflect attention to signs of economic challenges caused by his policies.

"Their latest target is Dr. Lisa Cook, a highly qualified, trailblazing economist, and the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors since Congress created it in 1913," Waters said. "Let me be very clear, the allegations against Dr. Cook have been cobbled together as a pretext to try to replace her with someone who will be loyal first to Trump instead of the U.S. Constitution or U.S. law."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is heading the effort to find a new chair to replace Powell.

Trump is pushing for early Senate confirmation of Stephen Miran, head of the Council of Economic Advisers, whom he nominated for a temporary seat on the Fed board, replacing Adriana Kugler. Kugler, the first Latina on the Fed, resigned abruptly earlier this month, months before her term was due to end on January 31.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci)