Lisa Cook, member of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve, attends a Federal Reserve Board open meeting discussing proposed revisions to the board’s supplementary leverage ratio standards at the Federal Reserve Board building in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2025.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook resign after a U.S. housing agency chief called on the Department of Justice to launch a criminal mortgage fraud investigation into the central bank official.
“Cook must resign, now!!!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that linked to a Bloomberg report on the allegations that Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has lodged against Cook.
The Fed declined CNBC’s request for comment on Pulte’s claims and Trump’s reaction.
It’s the latest example of the Trump administration airing allegations of mortgage-related wrongdoing against the president’s opponents. The Justice Department is investigating Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James on similar grounds.
The remarks also show Trump expanding his attacks on the Fed beyond its chairman, Jerome Powell, as he pressures the central bank to slash interest rates.
Cook, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden in 2022, voted with the majority on the Federal Open Market Committee to keep rates unchanged after the group’s latest meeting last month.
Pulte, an aggressive critic of Powell, wrote in the letter dated Aug. 15 that mortgage documents obtained by FHFA appear to show Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud.”
He accused Cook of “falsifying residence statuses” for a residence in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a property in Atlanta, Georgia “in order to potentially secure lower interest rates and more favorable loan terms.”
For both properties, Cook “appears to have acquired mortgages that do not meet certain lending requirements and could have received favorable loan terms under fraudulent circumstances,” Pulte alleged.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
