When the jobs report comes out on Friday, let’s hope the Bureau of Labor Statistics subtracts one government job, namely the former Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. She was fired by her boss,President Donald J. Trump, even though for some reason she refuses to accept this.
In the termination letter to Cook, Mr. Trump noted a criminal referral against Cook filed by the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte. In his letter, Mr. Trump said “there is sufficient reason to believe you may have made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements. For example, as detailed in the Criminal Referral, you signed one document attesting that a property in Michigan would be your primary residence for the next year. Two weeks later, you signed another document for a property in Georgia stating that it would be your primary residence for the next year. It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second. It is impossible that you intended to honor both.”
Mr. Trump in his letter continued, “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity. At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”
In my judgement, the evidence behind the allegations of mortgage fraud in Michigan, Atlanta, GA and Cambridge, MA are overwhelming. One of the listings has been circulating online for several weeks. We’ve all seen it. That is why I believe Ms. Cook is wasting everybody’s time by throwing up legal smoke screens in court.
She is pleading that President Trump has not shown sufficient “cause” to fire her (hat tip to Byron York). But since the Federal Reserve Act has never defined “cause”, to me it’s President Trump who defines what constitutes “cause”. I’d hold the same view, even if the 1913 legislation was perhaps clear. But really it should be up to Chief Executive.
Actually, we’ve learned that she knew all about the so-called mortgage fraud way in advance and told it to the Biden people when she was nominated, vetted and then confirmed to the Fed in 2022. But the Bidens chose to overlook it and jam through her Senate confirmation with, get this, a 49-49 tie that had to be broken by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Because Ms. Cook lied about her primary residence and these other matters, she was able to get preferential treatment on interest rates that were not available to ordinary Americans who play by the rules and do not lie on their mortgage applications. Ms. Cook is doing enormous damage right now to the Federal Reserve by her public revolt against the mounting allegations. Indeed, Jay Powell should have suspended her several weeks ago, as he has in several other cases. But of course, Powell always lacks backbone.
Cook’s latest defense is that these mortgage lies were committed before shewent to the Fed. This is utter nonsense.
Normally, the vetting process covers many prior years of various income, job, and contract histories. Her lies that were apparently accepted by the Bidens speak volumes about their lack of integrity. She should have been disqualified right from the start. Now look, I can go on about her lack of monetary credentials. Or the fact that she was very woke.
But the reality here, the important point here, she has been fired from her job by the nation’s Chief Executive. She should certainly not be permitted back into the Fed building. And she should certainly not be permitted to attend the next FOMC meeting in two weeks. Nor, of course, should she be allowed to vote at that meeting.
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