He said he was going to punish his enemies and he’s doing it. There’s no way that this functionary running the Federal Housing Finance Agency isn’t a MAGA operative answering directly to the White House. Axios reports:
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is the latest target of one of the Trump administration’s new pathways to pursue its perceived enemies: alleged mortgage fraud.
Trump has waged a revenge tour from his seat in the White House, with prominent members of his grudge list now facing probes from a MAGA-aligned DOJ. If the accusation against Cook evoked a sense of déjà vu, that’s because the Trump administration is also investigating Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on similar grounds.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump ally, referred Cook to the DOJ over allegations she “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statutes.”
Leticia James, Adam Schiff and now this Federal Reserve Governor — two highly accomplished Black women, one of whom prosecuted him for fraud and a California Senator who is a long time thorn in his side. Purely coincidental I’m sure.
Trump wants to take over the Federal Reserve with MAGA loyalists in order to essentially rig the economy with stupidity.
- Pulte alleged that Cook took out a mortgage on a property in Michigan, which she represented as her principal residence — and shortly after, took out a loan on a condo in Atlanta that was also described as her principal residence. He further alleged she listed the condo as a rental property in 2022.
- Trump subsequently called for her resignation. It comes as the president has sought leadership of the central bank that will be more responsive to his rate-cutting instincts.
- Cook was appointed to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in 2022 by then-President Biden, and her current term runs until 2038. Axios’ Neil Irwin describes her as a relatively dovish member of the board, who ironically has shown openness to the kinds of interest rate cuts Trump is seeking.
Cook is refusing to resign:
Cook said in a statement that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet. 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.
This is so obviously corrupt it’s laughable. But you can imagine how thrilled Trump is to be accusing these people of mortgage fraud since he’s the guy who was found to have committed fraud himself when he “valued” his gaudy piece of shit apartment at Trump Tower as being five times bigger than it is in order to get a loan.
By the way, today the New York appeals court voided Trump’s half a billion dollar penalty in that fraud case saying that it was excessive and, essentially, not that big of a deal. It’s a field day for corrupt billionaires. It truly is a new Gilded Age.