WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump fired Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, according to a letter posted on his Truth Social platform Monday night, likely teeing up a legal battle over the Fed’s independence and another key nomination fight when lawmakers return to Washington after Labor Day.

Trump’s letter, dated Aug. 25, said he was exercising his authority under Article II of the Constitution as well as the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to remove Cook “for cause,” justifying the dismissal by claiming that Cook had made misstatements on two mortgage applications.

Those allegations were first raised last week by Federal Housing Finance Administration Director William Pulte, who made a criminal referral to the Justice Department. Pulte said Cook claimed two homes as her primary residence — one in Michigan and one in Georgia.

In his letter, Trump said Cook, an accomplished economist, could not be trusted to help the Fed set interest rates and regulate banks.

“The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not, have such confidence in your integrity.”

Cook’s removal comes as Trump has been pressuring Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his fellow Federal Open Market Committee members, including current members of the Fed board of governors, to lower interest rates. Cook, whose term wasn’t scheduled to end until 2038, casts one of those votes to make rate decisions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, said Trump doesn’t have the power to remove Cook.

“The illegal attempt to fire Lisa Cook is the latest example of a desperate President searching for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans,” Warren said in a statement. “It’s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”

Trump’s allies claim that Article II grants the president the power to remove officials nominated and confirmed by the Senate, even in cases like the Fed, which operates independently of the executive branch. Likewise, the Federal Reserve Act states that Fed board members can be removed for cause. However, the term isn’t defined and has never been tested in this fashion in court, and critics argue that it’s a higher bar given the Fed’s historical insulation from politics.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee, said last week that Trump’s threats against Cook were an attempt to bully her. She said they amounted to a racist attack on Cook, who is the first Black woman to serve on the Fed board.

“No one should be surprised,” Waters said. “This is classic Trump, to go after Black women who refuse to bow to him.”

If the decision holds up in court, Trump will get to select another nominee to fill a Fed board seat. He’s already nominated Stephen Miran, a close confidante and current chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to fill the seat vacated by ex-Fed governor Adriana Kugler, who resigned her seat early.

The FOMC next meets Sept. 16-17 to decide the fate of its benchmark interest rate. Powell hinted at a rate cut in his remarks Friday at the Fed’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo., with other global central bankers and economists, citing a weakening labor market despite continued inflation pressures.

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