Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook attends the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's 2025 Jackson Hole economic symposium, "Labor in Transition: Demographics, ductivity, and Macroeconomic Policy" in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, U.S., August 23, 2025.
Jim Urquhart | ReutersFederal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte on Thursday night said he had filed a second criminal referral with the Department of Justice against Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, whom President Donald Trump is trying to fire.Pulte said in a post on X that the new referral relates to her mortgage for a condominium in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and alleged misrepresentations that condo and two s she owns in government ethics filings during her time as a Fed governor."3 strikes and you're out," Pulte tweeted his referral to the DOJ.His post included images of his letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and top DOJ official Ed Martin, laying out the allegations Cook.The referral implicitly addresses arguments that Trump does not have the power to legally remove Cook from the board for cause because Pulte's first criminal referral relates to conduct that allegedly occurred before she joined the Fed.Earlier Thursday, Cook sued Trump, asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to block the president from his unprecedented move to boot her from the central bank.Cook's lawyer Abbe Lowell, in a statement on Friday morning, called Pulte's criminal referral "an obvious smear campaign aimed at discrediting Gov.
Cook by a political operative who has taken to social media more than 30 times in the last two days and demanded her removal before any review of the facts or evidence.""Nothing in these vague, unsubstantiated allegations has any relevance to Gov Cook's role at the Federal Reserve, and they in no way justify her removal from the Board," Lowell said.A Fed spokesperson declined to .Trump earlier in the week cited the first criminal referral Pulte made against Cook, which related to purported false claims on mortgage applications for two s, in a letter notifying her that he was firing her.Pulte, who was appointed to lead the FHFA by Trump, has acted as an attack dog on the president's behalf against the Fed, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Cook in recent weeks.Bill Pulte, nominated to be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., Feb.
27, 2025. Annabelle Gordon | ReutersTrump for months has demanded, without success so far, that the central bank cut interest rates.
Before saying he was firing Cook, Trump had seriously considered trying to fire Powell.Pulte previously said that Cook signed mortgage documents for perties in Michigan and Georgia, which she claimed were each her primary residence, "in order to potentially secure lower interest rates and more favorable loan terms."His earlier allegation led the DOJ to open a criminal investigation of Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor.Pulte on Thursday said that in April 2021, "Cook entered a 15-year mortgage for a condominium in [Cambridge], representing it as her 'Second .'""Only eight months later, on December 1, 2021, Cook signed an ethics form with the U.S.
Government that this perty was an 'investment/rental perty,'" Pulte wrote.But "in subsequent filings from 2022 to 2025, Cook consistently listed this perty as an investment/rental perty, not a second ," he wrote."Representing the perty as a second may have allowed Cook to secure a lower 'Second ' mortgage down payment and rates, as investment perties typically carry higher down payments and higher rates due to increased risk," Pulte wrote.Read more CNBC coverageTrump White House pressures Fed governor Lisa Cook to go on leave as lawsuit loomsFeds fail to get indictment against DC sandwich thrower fired by DOJ: ReportFed responds to Trump effort to fire Lisa Cook, notes president needs 'cause'Trump says he'll soon have a Fed 'majority' to push rates lowerLisa Cook will sue over Trump firing from Fed board, her lawyer saysCracker Barrel scraps new logo after outrage from customers, TrumpFed mum on whether Lisa Cook is at the office after Trump removed her from boardLutnick suggests Cook's refusal to accept Trump firing from Fed supports fraud claimTrump Pentagon weighs taking equity stake in Lockheed, defense names: Lutnick'Our country is in danger': French PM takes confidence vote gamble over budget woesTrump vows new tariffs, chip restrictions on countries with digital taxesTrump tells Fed's Lisa Cook she's fired; she says 'he has no authority to do so'He said that Cook allegedly misrepresented her perty in Atlanta, which was a subject of the first criminal referral, on disclosure forms from 2022 through 2025 "as her residence, despite evidence suggesting it was being rented out to tenants.""Similarly, Cook declared in a 2025 government filing that her Ann Arbor, [Michigan] perty was her personal residence, however, we have reason to believe that as of 2025, the Ann Arbor perty is being used as a rental perty, not a personal residence," Pulte tweeted."These inconsistencies appear Cook made additional, multiple false representations, including to the U.S.
Government, regarding the of her mortgages and perties."Don’t miss these insights from CNBC What Nvidia's earnings mean for the stock market and AI tradeJosh Brown says if Apple announced a deal with Perplexity AI, the s would hit a recordChallenging Buffett: Buying wonderful companies at fair prices isn't more fitableBest Stocks: The value name with one of the best long-term charts Josh Brown has ever seen