This week president Trump made history by firing Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook.
Last week, President Trump called for the resignation of Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook following allegations by the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that she committed mortgage fraud.
FHFA Director William Pulte wrote Wednesday morning on X that Cook had designated two of her houses as her primary residences.
“Lisa D. Cook, committed mortgage fraud by designating her out-of-state condo as her primary residence, just two weeks after taking a loan on her Michigan home where she also declared it as her primary residence,” he said.
Trump called for Cook to step down shortly thereafter.
“Cook must resign, now!!!” he wrote on his own social media website, Truth Social.
By Friday, Trump threatened to remove her if she did not resign.
In a letter to Cook dated Monday, Trump wrote that “you are hereby removed from your position on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, effective immediately.” The president claimed that he was removing Cook “for cause.” The Trump administration alleges that Cook may have falsified records to receive more favorable terms on a mortgage. Cook, who is the first Black woman to serve on the Board of Governors, has not been charged with a crime.
“The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”
The president has feuded with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for months, over resistance to Trump’s calls to lower interest rates. Trump has reportedly toyed with the idea of attempting to remove Powell, however the president appears poised to take no action, as Powell’s term ends in May.
In a statement to The New York Times, Cook said she has no intention of going quietly.
“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign,” the statement said. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) slammed Trump’s attempt to fire Cook.
“What an outrage and a scandal. This is the big one constitutionally,” Raskin told Axios.
Warren called the act “an authoritarian power grab,” claiming that “Trump is desperately looking for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans and firing Lisa Cook is his latest move.”
Jeffries also slammed Trump’s attempt to fire Cook, saying there was not “a shred of credible evidence that she has done anything wrong.”
“To the extent anyone is unfit to serve in a position of responsibility because of deceitful and potentially criminal conduct, it is the current occupant of the White House. The American people are not buying your phony projection and slander of a distinguished public servant,” Jeffries’ statement read.
Of course Hakeem Jeffries Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jamie Raskin would criticize Trump
We would fully expect that of them
I’m a real estate paralegal. I’ve been in the industry for 30 plus years from being a licensed real estate agent to a licensed title insurance producer underwriting title insurance.
Mortgage fraud comes with huge penalties, fines, prison terms, at the federal level, including up to 30 years in prison.
Mortgage fraud is also in violation of State banking. If someone who is licensed as a mortgage broker and escrow agent or a title agent and they commit mortgage fraud by knowingly taking an application that’s incorrect or knowing there is a deficiency in the title and don’t disclose it, many other things.
Declaring a home as a primary residential IS a big deal. Not only because of possible discounted rates in advantages, lower insurance because it’s owner occupied, lower interest rates because it’s owner occupied.
And, it also determines a spousal interest in the property. If you and your spouse occupy a home as a primary residence, even if your spouse is not on the deed, they do have a legitimate marital interest in that property.
So much so, that the spouse, if they are not on the loan, must sign and acknowledge the mortgage.
So that also means the spouse signing a mortgage saying it’s their primary marital residence when it’s not, the spouse has also committed fraud.
Since most banks are federally insured fdic, this affects just about every mortgage, any government back mortgage like Fanny and freddy, special discount programs to load a moderate and come housing the list goes on and on and on and on.
So mortgage fraud is a very serious offense. And that’s why it comes with severe penalties and jail. Even just violating the RESPA laws and disclosures can result in loss of licenses, extreme penalties,.
It even goes as far down to the lowly notary who acknowledged and notarized the documents. If the notary had personal knowledge that a borrower had already designated a primary marital resident, and is now acknowledging a new loan that’s saying it’s a primary marital residence, the notary could be committing mortgage fraud and also held accountable financially loss of commission etc etc
Since those of us who work in the industry drive to keep everything legal and in compliance with all laws state federal and local. I would expect that any government official at any level would be required to do the same.
These fraudsters know exactly what they are doing. And if they don’t? Then why are we voting them in, giving them commissions, and putting the wrong people into important government positions
It never ceases to amaze me that when certain people feel they can cheat the system, or lie just a little to that they can get a leg up on what ever it is. I don’t care if its mortage fraud or caught taking bribes, if a person that is a public servent is caught dead to rights, knowingly committed a violation of the law they should suffer the consequences and at minimum be terminated. IF a person makes an error, and without promoting, admits they made the error and recalls the documents to correct and resubmit, that shows intent to correct a problem and should not result in drastic punitive career ending action. I think it gets down to flagrant intent and getting caught.