Fed governor fights back against Trump’s mortgage fraud bid
Pulte alleged Cook had simultaneously designated properties in Michigan and Georgia as her primary residence during a two-week period in 2021, a classification that typically qualifies borrowers for more favorable loan terms than second home or investment property designations.
Cook denied wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit challenging her removal. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in June that she could remain in her post, finding Trump had not afforded her adequate process to contest the action, but the ruling preserved a path for the president to try again. That is what Scavino’s August letter signaled was underway.
Lowell’s letter argued that proceeding on the basis of Pulte’s referral “would ignore the facts and the law,” and that neither act cited by Scavino “shows intentional wrongdoing or amounts to a crime, and neither constitutes ’cause’ under the Federal Reserve Act.”
He further noted that Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Attorney General Todd Blanche have each reportedly listed multiple properties as a primary residence at various points.
“An inadvertent oversight is not fraudulent or criminal,” Lowell wrote, adding that Cook’s paperwork discrepancy was “unintentional, not criminal, and occurred in her private capacity before she took office.”
