The resignation calls intensify Trump’s attempts to yield influence over the central bank.
United States President Donald Trump has called on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the central bank on the basis of allegations made by one of his allies about mortgages Cook holds in Michigan and Georgia.
US Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged in a post on X earlier on Wednesday that Cook had designated a condo in Atlanta as her primary residence after taking a loan on her home in Michigan, which she also declared as a primary residence.
Loans for a primary residence can carry easier terms than for second homes or investment properties. Pulte said the loans date to mid-2021, before Cook was appointed to the Fed by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate the following year. She is a native of Georgia and, at the time, was an economics professor at Michigan State University.
Pulte asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate, and Trump quickly amplified the allegation. The Department of Justice was taking the matter very seriously, a department official told Reuters.
“We’re also probing some property that she has in Massachusetts to see if there’s something there. But I don’t have anything yet on that,” Pulte said in an interview on CNBC.
Cook’s federally filed financial disclosure documents show three mortgages taken out in 2021, including a 15-year 2.5 percent loan on an investment property and two loans for personal residences, including a 30-year 3.25 percent mortgage and a 15-year 2.875 percent mortgage. The weekly average rate for 30-year loans during 2021 ranged between 2.9 percent and 3.3 percent, Mortgage Bankers Association data shows. Cook started at the Fed in 2022 and was reappointed to a 14-year term in 2023.
Spokespersons for the Fed and for Cook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Cook must resign, now!!!” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, his latest remarks aimed at reshaping the makeup of the US central bank, a body designed to set benchmark interest rates independent of White House influence.
Trump has told aides he is considering attempting to fire Cook, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited a senior White House official and another person familiar with the matter.
White House at odds with the central bank
Cook is one of three Biden appointees to the Fed whose term extends beyond Trump’s time in office, complicating the president’s efforts to get more control by appointing a majority of its seven-member board.
Currently, two of the Fed’s remaining six board members were appointed by Trump: Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman.
Trump has repeatedly blasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell over benchmark rates that he wants sharply reduced, calling for his resignation while acknowledging that the Fed’s unique status in US governance prevents him from firing Fed board members over monetary policy disputes.
Trump can name a new chair when Powell’s term ends in May, but claiming a majority on the board may take more time. Powell could continue serving as a governor until 2028, near the end of Trump’s term, should he buck convention and continue sitting on the board under a new chair.
Until Powell’s departure, Trump at this point has only one other seat to fill, vacated recently by the surprise resignation of former Governor Adriana Kugler. Earlier this month, Trump nominated Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to serve out the rest of her term.