Trump's Latest Fed Target 'Won't Be Bullied' After Fraud Allegations

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook rebuffed a call from President Donald Trump to step down Wednesday, the same day she was accused by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte of mortgage fraud.

Pulte accused Cook, appointed by former President Joe Biden, of submitting mortgage applications claiming that both a Michigan home and an Atlanta condo were her primary residences, which he said amounted to fraud. 

Pulte said in a post early Wednesday morning to his more than 3 million followers on X that he had sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice regarding the mortgage applications. 

“When someone commits mortgage fraud, they undermine the faith and integrity of our System,” Pulte said. “It does not matter who you are — no one is above the law.”

The president’s post on his own social media platform came shortly after Pulte’s allegations. Pulte, who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the head of the FHFA, continued to spend Wednesday morning posting on X about Cook. 

The posts include pictures of two seemingly matching signatures from what Pulte says are two mortgage documents. He said in one post that Fed Chair Jerome Powell “is complicit” if he doesn’t investigate how Cook’s supposed declaration of two primary residences was not flagged as part of a review before she was appointed to the board.

Pulte has also called for investigations into Powell as well as his resignation. 

Trump’s post on the issue calls for Cook to resign and links to media reports of Pulte’s allegations. 

Cook said in a statement to Bisnow Wednesday that she learned of the criminal referral against her through Pulte's social media post.

“I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” she said. “I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”

A spokesperson for the Fed declined to comment Wednesday morning. The FHFA didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Pulte’s criminal referral to the justice department includes documents purporting to show that Cook took a $203K mortgage on a property on June 18, 2021, signing a contract that said she would occupy, establish and use the Property as her principal residence within 60 days and “for at least one year” unless the lender agreed to an exception in writing, Bloomberg reported. 

On July 2, 2021, she took another $540K mortgage on a Georgia property that had similar contractual obligations, documents in the referral show, according to Bloomberg. Pulte cited four criminal statutes that he says Cook may have violated. 

The referral is the latest broadside against the Fed from Pulte, who has for months been calling on board governors to cut rates while blaming the current rate levels for Americans’ struggle to find affordable housing. 

He led a recent effort to oust Powell over what he and other Republican allies alleged were misrepresentations to Congress about an over-budget $2.5B renovation of the Fed’s Washington, D.C., offices. 

Powell would go on to take the president on a televised tour of the under-renovation property, and the uproar over its budget has largely subsided.  

Pulte has been joined by the president and other administration officials in calling for the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate, with Trump bestowing Powell the nickname “Too Late.”

The Fed last cut rates in December, and its members have spent much of 2025 saying that inflation remained too high to support cuts in the face of a strong jobs market.

Recent steep downward revisions of jobs data and other economic indicators have changed that calculus, and 85% of investors expect the Fed will cut rates next month, according to CME Group’s Fed Watch tool. 

July’s Fed meeting, where two Trump appointees wanted to cut rates while the rest voted to keep them flat, was the most mixed result in opinions from a meeting since 1993. 

Fed Gov. Adriana Kugler was absent from the last vote and resigned in August ahead of her term’s January expiration. Trump nominated Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to replace her on an interim basis. 

Miran, a key architect of the president’s ongoing trade war, wrote a white paper in 2024 that was highly critical of the Fed, mirroring many of the administration’s criticisms today. His closeness to the administration has left some to question whether his appointment would impact the Fed’s political independence. 

Powell was appointed by Trump during his first term, and his time leading the central bank ends in May. 

He is set to make his final address to the Fed's annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday in a speech that will be closely watched for signs that his view on a rate cut has softened.

UPDATE, AUG. 20, 5:55 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from Lisa Cook.