Fed’s Lisa Cook Contests ‘Baseless’ Mortgage Fraud Case to Bondi

(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook’s legal team has offered a detailed rebuttal to mortgage fraud claims made by President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials, arguing in a new letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that the allegations “fail even the most cursory look at the facts.”

Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, on Monday sent a letter to Bondi and Ed Martin, the senior Justice Department official named a “special counsel” to investigate the mortgage fraud, as he fights a legal battle to protect his job. The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on January 21 regarding Cook’s objection to Trump’s move to fire him.

Lowell wrote that a senior administration official’s criminal guidance was “unfounded.”

“The entire record makes clear that what she claims to be a contradiction in her loan applications is not a contradiction at all, but cherry-picked, missing pieces consistent with her applications submitted at that time and in subsequent filings by Governor Cook,” Lowell wrote.

Cook has not been charged any fees to date.

Trump said on August 25 that he fired Cook “with cause” after Cook rejected his request to resign over his allegation that Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte lied on mortgage applications. Cook also filed a lawsuit against Trump, arguing that his attempt to remove Trump from the Federal Reserve Board was unlawful and violated the central bank’s independence.

The Supreme Court refused to allow Trump to immediately fire Cook and ruled that Cook could remain in his post at least until the justices hear arguments in the case in January.

The final outcome of the legal battle will help determine the extent to which the White House can exercise control over the Fed as Trump pressures leaders to significantly lower interest rates.

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