Trump calls for Cook to go, but Dems' Warren says administration shouldn't 'weaponize' government to remove Fed members
The firestorm between the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve continued to escalate Wednesday as the president and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte called for Governor Lisa Cook’s resignation, citing allegations of mortgage fraud.
Pulte said in an X post that the FHFA had criminally referred Cook, a Fed governor since 2023, to the Department of Justice, claiming she potentially acted fraudulently by designating a Georgia condo as her primary residence in a mortgage application shortly after declaring the same for a loan on her Michigan residence.
The claims against Cook have not been proven, and it’s not clear whether the justice department will proceed to an investigation.
Pulte continued to post about the allegations throughout Wednesday, while Trump said in a social media post that Cook “must resign now,” citing the FHFA director’s remarks. Speaking on CNBC, Pulte said he believed the governor “will have to resign, or I think she will be fired.”
But Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a top Democrat on the Senate’s Banking Committee, criticized the criminal referral and alleged a political motive.
“I’ve long been an advocate for holding Fed officials accountable,” Warren said. “But anyone can see that for months now, President Trump has been scrambling for a pretext to intimidate or fire Chair Powell and Members of the Federal Reserve Board while blaming anyone but himself for how his failed economic policies are hurting Americans.
“The President and his Administration should not weaponize the Federal government to illegally fire independent Fed Board members.”
Pulte claimed his actions in referring Cook to the justice department and calling for her departure were apolitical.
“There’s no funny business here,” he said on CNBC. “This is straightforward stuff, and if you commit mortgage fraud, especially in black and white, you will be prosecuted.”
First reported by Bloomberg News, Pulte’s letter to attorney general Pam Bondi and justice department official Ed Martin suggested Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”
Cook is one of 12 members of the Fed committee responsible for deciding the central bank’s interest rate policy, which includes seven governing board members, the New York Fed president, and a rotating group of four other regional presidents. She sided with chair Jerome Powell in the Fed’s July 30 meeting by voting to leave the funds rate unchanged.
Tensions between Fed and Trump administration escalate again
Trump has called throughout this year for the Fed to lower rates, labeling Powell “too late” on rate policy and claiming it should follow European counterparts in cutting.
The White House would be able to appoint a replacement if Cook stepped down. Adriana Kugler unexpectedly resigned at the beginning of August, leading Trump to select chair of the Council of Economic Advisors Stephen Miran to replace her.
The Federal Reserve Act states that only the president can remove a member of the Fed’s board of governors, and that they can only be removed for “cause”, essentially serious misconduct. Still, Pulte suggested Powell had the power to fire Cook. “This is common sense, what he needs to do here,” he said.
Neither Cook nor the Federal Reserve have commented publicly on the allegations
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