President Donald Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook “must resign, now!!!”
Trump’s comment came after the director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, a sharp critic of the Fed, alleged in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud.”
In the letter that Pulte called a “criminal referral,” he said that his agency had obtained her mortgage documents and requested that the Justice Department review the matter.
He further alleged that Cook falsified her “residence statuses for an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based residence and an Atlanta, Georgia-based property.”
In response to Pulte's allegations, Cook said in a statement: “I learned from the media that FHFA Director William Pulte posted on social media that he was making a criminal referral based on a mortgage application from four years ago, before I joined the Federal Reserve. I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet."
Cook added that she intends "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’s letter is the latest scrutiny over the mortgages of prominent Democratic figures, including Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Speaking on CNBC, Pulte said, "It doesn't matter whether you're Fed Governor Cook or Joe Blow on the street, if you commit mortgage fraud, we are going to report it."
The letter about Cook’s mortgages ratchets up the administration’s pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. Pulte has posted on social media dozens of times calling on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to resign or lower rates, and he attended Trump’s recent tour of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation.
Asked about his fierce criticism of the central bank in the CNBC interview, Pulte said that was a "separate matter" but then said that "Jay Powell has a chance to do the right thing by the law" with regard to Cook. Powell does not have the authority to remove a governor. Pulte added that "we'll see" whether Powell knew about Cook's mortgages.
Cook has a permanent vote on the central bank’s rate-setting committee and was appointed by President Joe Biden to a term running until 2038.
Before joining the Fed, Cook was a professor of economics at Michigan State University. Cook, a graduate of Spelman College and Oxford University, is regarded in the economics field as a trailblazer. She is the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve board in the U.S. central bank’s more than 100-year history.
The Justice Department and FHFA did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
