President Donald Trump pulled the trigger on Wednesday, following through with a threat to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook over alleged mortgage fraud. That came a week after the Federal Housing Financing Agency sent over a criminal referral involving the purchase of properties in Georgia and Michigan.
SEE: Real Estate Fraud Gets Federal Reserve Governor a Federal Investigation
After getting the boot, Cook responded by saying she'll continue to show up for work, claiming that Trump does not have the legal authority to fire her.
Lisa Cook disputes that Trump has the authority to fire her and says she won't resign, in a statement. pic.twitter.com/ahGouWFBJI
— Andrew Ackerman (@amacker) August 26, 2025
One of the most interesting parts of her statement was what she didn't say. Instead of denying the allegations, which is what you'd expect an innocent person to do, Cook instead stated she was gathering more information about the situation. That seemed to be the tipoff, because shortly after that, CNN confirmed that they had reviewed the mortgage documents and that Cook had claimed two different homes as her primary residence.
Naturally, though, CNN immediately qualified their findings in the most mind-blowingly stupid way possible.
— Pulte (@pulte) August 26, 2025
Does anyone think CNN would ever give that kind of benefit of the doubt to a Republican appointee? Of course, they wouldn't. But is that even relevant here? Is proof of intent required to be fired for allegedly committing mortgage fraud? I would suggest it's not. Whether she ends up indicted and convicted is a completely different question from whether she should keep her job.
Still, it needs to be pointed out that she filed both those mortgage applications within the span of a month. The idea that she just forgot she had recently claimed another primary residence to secure a lower interest rate doesn't begin to pass muster. It's also notable that this scheme seems to have been somewhat common among high-level bureaucrats and politicians. Sen. Adam Schiff, for example, is under investigation for the same thing.
Notably, the best defense Democrats can come up with to defend Cook is that she's a black woman. Every statement I've seen so far, including from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, has fixated on the fact that she's the "first black woman" to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. I guess we all missed the "first black woman" exception in mortgage fraud statutes.
The entire thing is ludicrous. From CNN carrying water for Cook to Democrat politicians playing the race card, we are seeing a variety of deflections. What we aren't seeing is anyone saying she didn't do it, and that's because all the available evidence says she did do it. The idea that it doesn't qualify as "cause" to be fired from her high-paying government job is crazy. You can't have a known alleged fraudster setting national economic policy.
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