Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is turning President Donald Trump's own mortgage history against him in her fight to keep her job, pointing out that Trump and multiple members of his Cabinet appear to have claimed the exact same kind of dual "primary residence" mortgages he's using to try to fire her.
The White House accuses Cook of mortgage fraud for claiming multiple primary residences on her taxes, calling it grounds for removal from the Fed's seven-person board. Cook has denied any wrongdoing, and her attorney fired back in a Wednesday letter citing recent reporting showing Trump himself, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Attorney General Todd Blanche have all claimed multiple primary home mortgages at the same time. The Bessent claims were reported earlier this week.
Cook's letter didn't hold back on the hypocrisy.
"Surely the President does not believe himself 'unfit for office' because he signed these contradictory 'primary' mortgage documents," the letter states.
According to ProPublica, Trump obtained two mortgages for Florida homes in 1993, each designating the property as his principal residence. A White House spokesperson defended the arrangement to ProPublica, arguing both loans came from the same lender.
"There was no defraudation. It is illogical to believe that the same lender would agree to defraud itself," the spokesperson said.
Cook's attorney, Abbe Lowell, argued the entire episode reveals Trump's real motive.
"An inadvertent error is not fraud, as the President and a third of his cabinet should know because they reportedly did the same thing," Lowell said. "These attacks on Governor Cook are not about real estate paperwork; they are an attempt by President Trump to force the Federal Reserve to bend to his will."
This marks Trump's second attempt to remove Cook, a Biden appointee, after the Supreme Court ruled in June he couldn't oust her while her legal challenge to an earlier termination attempt remained pending. Lowell says Cook's team is prepared to fight any further removal effort in court if necessary. The White House, Justice Department and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
