Embattled Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook can’t be fired by President Trump over allegations of mortgage fraud — because she already fessed up to discrepancies in her home loan paperwork while she was being vetted by the Biden administration ahead of her confirmation in 2022, her lawyers say.
Trump announced Aug. 25 that he was removing Cook from the Fed board over claims she improperly listed both an Atlanta condo and a Michigan home as her primary residence to receive more favorable home loan terms.
In addition, Cook is accused of putting her Cambridge, Mass. condo down as a rental property on government ethics forms while calling it a “second home” on mortgage papers, according to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte.
Cook attorney Abbe Lowell — who notably represented Hunter Biden in two criminal cases involving the then-first son — fired back in court papers filed Tuesday in DC federal court.
“[T]he Government has long known about the alleged facial inconsistencies in Governor Cook’s financial documents,” said Lowell, who confirmed that Cook stated on a background check form submitted as part of her vetting that the Michigan house was her primary residence and her Georgia condo was her “2nd home.”
On another document, Cook listed both abodes, as well as her Massachusetts condo, as her “present residence,” while specifying the Michigan home was her “current permanent residence” and the Cambridge condo was both a second home and a rental property.
“If those are facial contradictions, as the Government and President claim …” Lowell wrote. “Senators or White House advisors could have inquired of her about any alleged ‘facial inconsistencies.’”
“Governor Cook’s alleged ‘contradictions’ were included in documents disclosed to the White House before she was appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate,” the attorney summed up. “During her Senate confirmation process, Governor Cook submitted questionnaires and provided reports that would have revealed the same purported ‘facial’ contradictions the Government now claims are ’cause’ to fire her … As the Government rightly acknowledges, such pre-office conduct ‘that was known at the time’ likely cannot constitute a legitimate basis for President Trump’s removal of Governor
Cook.”
DC US District Judge Jia Cobb heard arguments Friday and is weighing whether to grant Cook’s emergency request to block her sacking.
At a hearing that lasted more than two hours, Lowell argued any problem with Cook’s mortgage paperwork was simply a “clerical error.”
The lawyer further claimed his client’s termination was all a pretext to get Cook out because “she won’t go along with an interest rate drop” that Trump has been seeking.
Lowell claimed that when Trump was unsuccessful at persuading Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut rates, he simply “took a swing at the next person up at the plate.”
DOJ attorney Yaakov Roth argued Cook’s misstatements on her home loan paperwork were either “intentional” — and therefore criminal — or negligent, giving Trump grounds to dismiss her for cause.
Roth also argued the question of whether the mortgage issues occurred before Cook began her 15-year Fed term was irrelevant.
Cobb didn’t tip her hand on which way she was leaning during the hearing but she did stress the Fed’s “need for independence.”
The Justice Department declined comment when contacted by The Post Wednesday.
With Post wires
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