FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump attends a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (not pictured) at the Oval Office, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 25, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
President Donald Trump announced he's going after one of the governors of the Federal Reserve after charges were "manufactured" for him by William Pulte, who was appointed to run the Federal Housing Finance Agency, noted New Republic staff writer Greg Sargent.
Writing Tuesday, Sargent explained that the "staunch Trump loyalist" trumped up allegations that Fed governor Lisa Cook "fraudulently declared several principal or primary residences for mortgage purposes." Cook hasn't been charged with a crime or found guilty. Thus far, it's nothing more than a post on X from Pulte, who has no previous experience in the mortgage industry.
Cook said she would not step down and plans to sue.
That's just the beginning, Sarget wrote.
"Guess what: We may soon learn more on this front," he continued. "People with experience in mortgage law and governance tell me that Cook’s lawyer, well-known D.C. attorney Abbe Lowell, has a major opening in the coming litigation. He can use the discovery process to shed light on why Pulte targeted these mortgages and on any White House involvement in that."
Lowell is also representing New York Attorney General Letitia James, whom the Trump administration is also going after, related to alleged "mortgage fraud."
Sargent spoke to former acting general counsel at HUD, Benjamin Klubes, who noted, "I’d be highly confident that Abbe is going to explore every avenue of discovery to determine what role, if any, the White House played in instigating this investigation. Abbe will definitely focus on Pulte’s role to determine how and why he chose these targets."
Sargent expects that when all of the legal battles begin, "White House involvement in it gets flushed out into the open." What is found in discovery, "may suddenly start looking very different from what Trump hoped."