President Donald Trump is kicking up his long-running campaign against the Federal Reserve this week, calling for the resignation of one of its top officials, Fed Governor Lisa Cook. The demand came after a Trump ally accused Cook of falsifying mortgage documents, allegations she firmly denies.
The controversy started when Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a close Trump ally, sent a letter to the Justice Department urging an investigation into two mortgages Cook obtained in 2021. Pulte alleged that Cook, then a Biden appointee not yet serving on the Fed, declared two different homes as her “primary residence” within weeks of each other, a move he said may amount to mortgage fraud.
Trump quickly seized on the accusations, writing on his social media platform Wednesday that “Cook must resign, now!!!”
Cook, however, pushed back. In a statement, she said she first learned of the claims through Pulte’s social media posts and stressed she had no plans to step down. “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” she wrote.
Pulte has long been a vocal critic of the Fed and Chair Jerome Powell, pressing the central bank to cut interest rates more aggressively. He’s spent the last few months targeting spending at the Fed’s Washington headquarters. Critics, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, say his use of social media to launch political broadsides undermines the seriousness of his role.
Cook, the first Black woman appointed to the Fed’s Board of Governors, joined in 2022 and has since become a target for Trump’s allies in their broader fight with the central bank. The administration has been pressing Powell and the Fed to accelerate rate cuts, even as policymakers have paused further moves while assessing the impact of Trump’s trade tariffs.
The political context is hard to ignore. With Fed Governor Adriana Kugler recently stepping down, Trump has nominated his economic adviser Stephen Miran to fill the vacancy. If Cook were forced out, only two governors would remain who were appointed solely by a Democratic president, leaving the board more firmly under Trump’s influence.
Analysts say Cook has little incentive to resign, particularly since stepping down would not halt any potential legal probe. “For Cook, resigning will not end the legal probe. It is why we see no incentive for her to react to Pulte by departing before the next Fed meeting,” Jaret Seiberg of TD Cowen noted in commentary Wednesday.
The flare-up comes just as Fed policymakers gather in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for their annual symposium, where Powell is expected to hint at possible rate cuts later this year. Markets are already betting heavily on a September move.
For Trump, the attacks on Cook fit into a familiar pattern: when pressure fails to sway Powell, he turns up the heat on those around him. Whether the latest campaign leads anywhere is uncertain. But what is clear is that Trump has no intention of letting up on the Fed.
