President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the resignation of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, after a Trump ally alleged she may have engaged in mortgage fraud and urged the attorney general to investigate her.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee who has been a sharp critic of the Fed, wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi late last week accusing Cook of using “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud.” Cook allegedly took out mortgages on properties in Michigan and Georgia, claiming that each would be her primary residence.
“Cook must resign, now!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, after Pulte highlighted the letter on social media Wednesday morning.
The first African American woman in her role, Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by President Joe Biden in 2022.
Pressure campaign continues: Trump has complained repeatedly about the Fed’s interest rate policy and accused Fed Chair Jerome Powell of keeping rates too high, slowing the economy and driving up the cost of payments on the national debt. In what is widely seen as an effort to intimidate Powell, Trump has accused him of bungling the renovation of the central bank’s headquarters building in Washington — which could give Trump an excuse, however flimsy, to fire the Fed chief “for cause.”
The call for Cook’s resignation represents an escalation of Trump’s attacks on the Fed and central bank officials who might be seen as standing in the way of the president’s preferred policy.
Cook pushed back on Trump’s call for her to step down. “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” she said in a statement sent to news outlets. “I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”
Pulte followed up with his own response on social media: “Write anything you or your attorneys want Miss Cook, you’ve been caught based on mortgage documents, not a tweet.”
The bottom line: If Trump succeeds in driving Cook off the seven-member Fed board, her replacement would give the president another ally in his campaign to lower rates, and potentially produce a majority of Trump supporters on the board. Trump recently named Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser, as his choice to take a newly vacated seat, and two current members were appointed during Trump’s first administration.