(NewsNation) — The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into whether fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook submitted fraudulent information on mortgage applications, according to multiple reports.
“Predictably and recognizing the flaws in challenging their illegal firing of Governor Cook, the administration is scrambling to invent new justifications for its overreach,” Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “This Justice Department – perhaps the most politicized in American history – will do whatever President Trump demands. He wants cover, and they are providing it. The questions over how Governor Cook described her properties from time to time, which we have started to address in the pending case and will continue to do so, are not fraud, but it takes nothing for this DOJ to undertake a new politicized investigation, and they appear to have just done it again.”
The Justice Department has not responded to a request for comment.
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This investigation comes just days after Cook filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in response to her firing. Cook has asked a federal judge to block President Donald Trump’s decision.
Cook was accused of mortgage fraud by Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a Trump appointee. Pulte alleged Cook claimed two primary residences to get better mortgage rates. Cook’s legal team has pushed back on those claims, writing in a court filing that “the mortgage allegations against her are pretextual in order to effectuate her prompt removal and vacate a seat for President Trump to fill and forward his agenda to undermine the independence of the Fed.”
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However, the White House has doubled down on Trump’s decision.
“You have these mortgage receipts very clearly shown to the president, and he has the cause that he needs to fire this individual,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “He laid it out in a letter that he provided to her and to the public as well, and so we’ll continue to fight this battle.”
Trump and the Federal Reserve have been increasingly at odds over interest rates. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has insisted on keeping interest rates steady to combat inflation, while Trump has demanded they be lowered.
