President Donald Trump demanded the resignation of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook after one of his appointees added her to his list of targets over alleged mortgage fraud claims.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte – a staunch MAGA loyalist – referred Cook to Attorney General Pam Bondi for investigation over a pair of mortgages, making her the next Democratic official or appointee to be accused of the crime by the Trump administration.
"Cook must resign, now!!!" Trump posted Wednesday morning on Truth Social, linking to a Bloomberg News report on Pulte's referral to the Department of Justice.
Pulte accused Cook of signing an agreement on a mortgage in Ann Arbor, Michigan, stating she would use the property as her primary residence for at least a year but then taking out another mortgage in Georgia two weeks later declaring that as her primary residence.
Critics on social media called Pulte's allegations flimsy and politically motivated, and they parsed over media coverage of his claims – which have been leveled at other perceived political enemies of the president.
"William Pulte, a Trump loyalist, is using the FHFA bureaucracy to help Trump gin up fake pretexts for prosecutions of his enemies," posted The New Republic's Greg Sargent. "One former [inspector general] told me: 'From beginning to end, this process is highly irregular.'"
"Okay so apparently the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency has become a key part of the Trump authoritarian regime, by ginning up accusations of mortgage fraud against all his enemies, and then publicly requesting that Bondi investigate them, to set the stage for DOJ harassment," warned activist Will Stancil. "Using the housing finance agency as a tool for political repression is really wild and goes to show how Trump sees every inch of the federal government as a weapon to be wielded to destroy anyone who won’t pay him fealty."
"Lisa Cook is an innovative and thoughtful economic analyst: her work on the correlation between rates of lynching and patenting is a foundational work," noted law professor Kali Muarry. "I find it interesting that Leticia James, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook have all been accused of mortgage fraud, by one man, William Pulte."
"As the Trump regime tries to manufacture legal cases against responsible US officials such as Fed governor Lisa Cook by lying about mortgage fraud, note two things: 1) BS, done for political and personal reasons, not facts or law 2) Trump has committed a lot of mortgage fraud, among other frauds," said international relations professor Nicholas Grossman.
"Let’s have everyone found guilty of mortgage fraud resign — starting with Trump," added political science professor Michael McDonald.
"Crazy, what is it about Lisa Cook that might have led the white house to baselessly accuse her of mortgage fraud in order to force her out of her job?" posted New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, posting a photo of the Fed governor showing that she's a Black woman. "Gosh what could it be."
"Does she have anything in common with NYAG Letitia James, whom the administration has also accused of mortgage fraud?" replied journalist Jesse Berney, picking up Bouie's hint. "A neighbor of [James'] caught Ed Martin lurking outside her house, and when asked, he and the goon with him just lied and said they were looking at houses in the neighborhood."
"And had the audacity to say to the neighbor, 'Is that what you call a stoop? We don't have those where I'm from,'" added Bluesky user Lynette Nees. "A deafening dog whistle."
"They keep accusing people of this, weird, almost like their boss knows a lot about mortgage fraud," chimed in Bluesky user Evan.
"Accusations of mortgage fraud has also been leveled against NY AG Letitia James," noted Jodi Vittori, an expert on the linkages of corruption, state fragility, illicit finance, and US national security. "While 2 data points is not a solid trend line, this could be an early sign that accusations of mortgage fraud will be the lawfare used for many govt purges."
"The New York Times knows these BS mortgage fraud accusations by the Trump regime are the very definition of 'lawfare,'" opined veteran newspaper editor Mark Jacob. "But NYT is headquartered on its own Neutrality Island, where the local ordinances require newspapers to pretend the fascists are operating with good intentions."
"As always, Every Republican Accusation is a Confession," added podcaster David Waldman. "Trump lost his mortgage fraud trial. So now everybody else in the world will be accused of mortgage fraud."