Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Bill Pulte continued his campaign against the Federal Reserve leadership by claiming Chairman Jerome Powell was intentionally working against the White House because he “doesn’t like our president.”
In a combative interview this morning on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Pulte was visibly annoyed as he fielded multiple questions that questioned his ongoing efforts to rearrange the central bank’s leadership. On the question of Powell’s leadership, Pulte insisted the Fed chairman was acting out of spite against President Trump.
“We all know what’s going on with Jay Powell,” said Pulte with a tinge of annoyance. “Jay Powell doesn’t like our president. He went and he lowered rates, you know? I mean, we’re getting into policy stuff now, and I like to keep the legality different from policy. But look, to say this isn’t politicized and that this isn’t an independent Fed. Look at what he did the last many years with Biden, right before the election, and now you have low inflation, and he’s not cutting rates.”
Pulte did not respond to the observation by the “Squawk Box” team that Trump appointed Powell in 2018, but instead faulted Powell for not making a public statement over Pulte’s repeated insistence that Fed Gov. Lisa Cook is a mortgage fraudster.
“He doesn’t even announce an investigation,” Pulte argued. “It’s odd. It’s very odd.”
Pulte derided Norman Eisen, one of Cook’s attorneys in her lawsuit to stop Trump’s attempt to remove her from office, as “a raging Democrat” who was involved first impeachment effort against Trump. But when asked several times how the FHFA began its investigation into Cook’s alleged mortgage fraud, Pulte repeatedly refused to answer those inquiries.
“I’m not going to explain our sources and methods, where we get tips from, who are whistleblowers,” Pulte said. “It would be reckless for me to do that.”
When “Squawk Box” host Andrew Ross Sorkin noted there would be a “perception issue” if the directive to investigate Cook came from the White House or within the FHFA, Pulte angrily snapped, “I don’t need you to help me explain things, Andrew.”
Pulte also refused to answer questions on the mortgage fraud allegations raised against Trump ally Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general who is running for his state’s US Senate seat.
“I’m not going to comment on any specific situation,” Pulte answered. “If things are made public then and or if we decide to make them public, then I will talk about it.”
Pulte was also elusive on the subject of the press conference that he scheduled for this morning with the promise of providing more damaging information on Cook – he abruptly canceled it only a few hours after he announced it. When asked if was being rescheduled, he responded, “We’ll see. I have great respect for the process. Stay tuned.”
