Fox’s Andrew McCarthy Argues Trump’s Effort to Fire Fed Governor Likely to Fail

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Fox News legal analyst and National Review contributing editor, Andrew McCarthy, broke down the latest developments in President Donald Trump’s effort to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud.

McCarthy offered his legal take on the issue in the National Review following a new report from Reuters that debunks a key part of the allegations against Cook. Trump fired Cook based on an allegation from loyalist Bill Pulte, who Trump has appointed to head up the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Pulte has also been behind allegations of mortgage fraud related to Trump enemies Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).

Pulte accused Cook of declaring both a home in Michigan and one in Georgia as her primary residence, which would constitute fraud. “Pulte’s allegations against Cook have been weakened in the last few days,” McCarthy explains in his analysis, adding:

In 2021, the year before she was appointed to the Fed, Cook purchased homes in Michigan and, a few weeks later, in Atlanta. Pulte says that her mortgage documents represented both homes as her primary residence. Perhaps so, but it now appears that when Cook applied for the loan on the Atlanta property, she disclosed to her credit union that it would be a vacation home (not her primary residence). Moreover, when she was nominated for the Fed and subject to the confirmation process, she similarly explained to the government that the Atlanta property was a “second home” (again, not her primary residence).

McCarthy, who had previously dismissed Pulte’s allegations against Schiff as not going anywhere, explained how Pulte’s allegations thus far have not led to any actual indictments.

“Notwithstanding the Trump Justice Department’s habitual haste to please the boss and fuel administration political narratives, no one referred by Pulte has been charged with a crime to date. (I’ve explained why I don’t think there is a basis to indict Senator Schiff.) In part, that is because establishing the crime of bank fraud is not as simple as showing inconsistencies in mortgage documents,” McCarthy wrote, noting that Trump himself had been accused of overvaluing his own property in mortgage declarations.

He went on to shred Trump for firing Cook based on Pulte’s allegations, which had yet to result in any kind of indictment or legal process: “Trump relied entirely on Pulte’s information to rationalize firing Cook. It now appears that Pulte’s information is either wrong or materially incomplete. Even conceding that a president’s discretion may be broad, it is an abuse of discretion to decide a significant matter based on flawed information.”

McCarthy does note, that while the new reporting on Cook’s mortgages does seem to help her, it is odd she was not the one to disclose those documents to either the courts or the public. McCarthy argues that after Pulte’s initial allegation, “Cook may have thought she’d been caught and didn’t realize that there might be some exculpatory information.”

He concludes, however, that Trump’s appeal to the courts to remove Cook is unlikely to go forward and the initial to decision to keep her in her role will stand.

“I’m thus convinced that a majority of the justices have already come to the conclusion that the president should have less power to remove Fed board members than other heads of administrative agencies,” McCarthy concludes, adding:

It’s not a reach, then, to deduce that if the Court is going to limit the president’s firing authority, then the justices will reject the notion that Trump can remove Cook based on allegations that have not been proved, reliant on information that might be wrong, involving conduct that had nothing to do with Cook’s official duties.

Trump’s ongoing effort to remove Cook, who has yet to be found guilty of any kind of crime or actual wrongdoing, is unprecedented and has set off alarm bells among economists who warn against putting political pressure on the Fed.