Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook fought back against President Donald Trump’s attempt to oust her by calling out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
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According to reporting by The New York Times, Cook’s lawyer filed a reply to a White House letter on Wednesday that continued to deny the Trump administration’s allegations of fraud. The Trump team’s allegations are based on Cook’s 2021 purchase of a condo in Atlanta, which she listed as her “primary” residence on at least one loan even though she never lived there.
Cook has also tagged a house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as her primary residence. However, her lawyer, Abbe David Lowell, called the listing an “entirely inadvertent oversight,” not a crime. Lowell noted that Cook had earlier labeled the Atlanta place a vacation home, and Cook received no discount on the loan, according to The Times.
In his reply to the White House, Lowell also flipped the Trump administration’s accusations. He argued that Trump’s own advisers did the same thing. He singled out Bessent, who Bloomberg reported took out loans on two homes in 2007 that were both marked “primary.” Trump “has neither fired the secretary nor asked him to resign,” Lowell wrote, per The Times.
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The White House’s renewed attacks against Cook come after a legal setback in June, when the Supreme Court ruled that she should have been given the formal ability to contest the accusations against her, The Times noted. The ruling also gave President Trump the opportunity to try to oust Cook again after granting her adequate due process.
Cook was given an August 26 deadline to respond to the White House’s allegations of fraud, according to The Times. A letter signed by Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino laid out the accusations against Cook.
“You appear to have acquired mortgages that do not meet certain lending requirements and could have received favorable loan terms under fraudulent circumstances,” the letter read, per The Times. “A jury could find that you intended to defraud these institutions for your own benefit.”
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