WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump ordered the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook “effective immediately” on Monday, citing allegations of false statements on her mortgage agreements — and expanding pressure on the independent central bank.

Referring to the Federal Reserve Act as justification, Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Cook: “I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.”

A president is generally limited in their ability to remove officials from the central bank, with a Supreme Court order recently suggesting that Fed officials can only be removed for “cause”, which could be interpreted to mean wrongdoing.

But the US leader pointed to a criminal referral dated August 15 from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s director — a staunch ally of Trump — to the US attorney general in announcing that Cook would be removed from her role.

The referral, Trump said, provided “sufficient reason” to believe that Cook might have made “false statements” on one or more mortgage agreements.

Earlier this month, Cook said in a statement that she had “no intention of being bullied to step down”, but would take questions about her financial history seriously.

The Fed did not immediately respond to queries on Trump’s announcement.