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August 27, 2026 / 11:40 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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Washington — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook defended herself against allegations from the Trump administration that she made misrepresentations on mortgage documents, arguing in a new letter that she has "never committed mortgage fraud."In the letter to the White House dated Wednesday, Abbe Lowell, Cook's lawyer, said that attempting to fire Cook on the basis of accusations made by Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, would "ignore the facts and the law." Lowell told White House counsel David Warrington that the claims against Cook are "unfounded and untrue.""Governor Cook has never committed mortgage fraud or any intentional wrongdoing, and there is no legally cognizable cause for removing her from the Federal Reserve Board," he wrote.Mr. Trump first tried to remove Cook from her post on the Fed's Board of Governors last year after Pulte claimed she falsified mortgage documents related to two properties, one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the other in Atlanta. Both properties were purchased before Cook was confirmed as a Fed governor during the Biden administration.Cook filed a lawsuit challenging her removal as a violation of federal law, which allows the president to remove Fed governors only "for cause." In June, the Supreme Court allowed Cook to continue serving in her role as her case proceeds in the lower courts. The high court said in its 5-4 decision that Cook was entitled to notice and the opportunity to respond to the allegations before she was terminated, which she did not receive.Weeks after the Supreme Court handed down its decision, Mr. Trump mounted a new effort to oust Cook. The White House informed her in an Aug. 5 letter that the president was considering firing her because of the mortgage-fraud allegations and laid out the accusations against her. It set an Aug. 26 deadline for Cook to respond to the claims made by Pulte.In the letter, White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino said that Cook signed a mortgage agreement classifying the Atlanta condominium as her "primary" residence, even though she signed a mortgage document that classified her home in Ann Arbor the same way. The White House also claimed that Cook listed the Atlanta property for rent roughly 14 months after signing the mortgage, even though she never disclosed rental income in financial disclosures for 2022 and 2023.
