Trump Demands High-Ranking Fed Official ‘Resign Now!!!’ Over Mortgage Fraud Allegations
(Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP photo)
President Donald Trump is calling for an ouster at the Federal Reserve — and for once, it’s not Jerome Powell.
Trump spoke out against Fed Governor Lisa Cook after his Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte accused her of mortgage fraud in a series of X posts Wednesday.
Pulte claimed that Cook used an Atlanta condo as her primary residence, two weeks after taking a loan on a Michigan home she also declared as her primary residence.
Pulte said he turned his evidence over to the Department of Justice.
“I believe the President has cause to fire Lisa Cook,” Pulte added in one of his posts.
Sharing a Bloomberg article about the allegations on his Truth Social platform Wednesday, Trump demanded: “Cook must resign, now!!!
(Truth Social screenshot)
“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,” Cook said in a statement to Mediaite. “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet. 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.”
Trump’s attack is yet another salvo in the Trump administration’s war against the Fed and Powell, its much-maligned chair, over his refusal to lower interest rates.
Calling Powell everything from “too late” to a “loser,” Trump has even threatened to sue him over the “incompetent job he has done in managing the construction of the Fed Buildings.”
Despite continued social media attacks on Powell, Trump indicated earlier this month that he would not fire him because doing so would be “very disruptive.” Powell, in turn, has also said he will not leave his post — which is meant to be fully independent — if the president tries to remove him before his term expires.
