President Trump has announced that he is firing Lisa D. Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governor over allegations of mortgage fraud, but Cook has stated the president has no authority to remove her from office.
On Monday evening, Trump sent a letter to Cook announcing his intention, stating, “I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.” Trump added that in view of Cook’s “deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter,” he lacked “confidence in your integrity.”
Cook was the subject of a criminal referral sent to the Department of Justice by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who claimed to have evidence that Cook had mortgages on two different properties – one in Michigan, the other in Georgia – which she both claimed as a primary residence. However, Cook has not been indicted.
Trump’s action marks the first time that a president has sought to fire a Federal Reserve official. Federal law and a Supreme Court ruling have made it clear that a president cannot fire a central bank officer at will, but whether the Pulte accusation against Cook can be considered as a cause for dismissal would most likely require a court’s input.
Cook, who was appointed to the Fed in 2022 by President Biden and has a term running through 2038, issued a statement that she is not stepping down.
“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” said Cook in a statement issued late Monday. “I will not resign.”
Trump has mused over the potential of firing Fed Chairman Jerome Powell based on cost overruns related to the renovations at the central bank’s headquarters, but he has also insisted several times that he would not push Powell out of office.
Heaven help us if trump and his henchmen get their stubby fingers on the Fed.
It would be a good thing – relax!
We are being herded like cattle towards a state of Martial Law and nobody with any power to stop it is doing anything. Anyone who ever questioned how the German nation before WWll reached the point that it did…look around you. You’re seeing the process yet again. Wake up people.
That happened under the last administration. This administration is using common sense policies that were voted for in a landslide – crime, immigration and inflation reduction policies that are working.
Why do we always have to see the grammar school ‘ show & tell ‘ presentation of that signature?
She committed mortgage fraud.
She even tried to rent out her “principal residence “
She’s the one in charge of our interest rates
NO. Fire her!
💯💯💯
I agree.
Yeah, it’s not like Trump ever committed or was convicted, like his accountant and ex-laywer, of doing anything financially fraudulent. Trump has never been dishonest and there is no way his economic “plan” can go wrong. Unless of course it’s the deep state which he can’t seem to purge.
It is possible to have claimed primary residence on two existing loans so long as you actually lived in the one residence for a while, and then purchased and lived in the other after. Sometimes mortgage documents specifically say 6-12 months. Technically as far as I know, there is no limit to how many owner occupied loans you could have as long as you lived in each one for some period as your primary residence. Buying more than 2 in a 1 year period might look suspicious and be hard to justify. If you claimed primary residence and did not move into the second property when you claimed it was your intention to and you used it as in investment property, like a rental or to resell, that would be mortgage fraud. More details on the timing of the loans and occupancy would be necessary to establish mortgage fraud.
Go trump!