XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics, atl.general   
   XPost: soc.culture.african.american   
   From: dylan@aol.com   
      
   WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Federal   
   Reserve governor Lisa Cook to resign after a member of his administration   
   accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud, the latest example of the Trump   
   administration's efforts to gain control over the central bank.   
      
   Bill Pulte, director of the agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie   
   Mae and Freddie Mac, urged the Justice Department to investigate Cook, who   
   was appointed to the Fed's governing board by former president Joe Biden   
   in 2022. She was reappointed the following year to a term that lasts until   
   2038.   
      
   Pulte, in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleged that Cook has   
   claimed two homes as her principal residences -- one in Michigan, the   
   other in Georgia -- to fraudulently obtain better mortgage lending terms.   
      
   Pulte also charged in his letter that Cook has listed her condo in   
   Atlanta, Georgia, for rent. Mortgages for homes used as principal   
   residences typically carry lower interest rates than properties that are   
   purchased to rent, Pulte's letter said.   
      
   The allegation represents another front in the Trump administration’s   
   attack on the Fed, which has yet to cut its key interest rate as Trump has   
   demanded. If Cook were to step down, then the White House could nominate a   
   replacement. And Trump has said he would only appoint people who would   
   support lower rates.   
      
   The more members of the Fed's governing board that Trump can appoint, the   
   more control he will be able to assert over the Fed, which has long been   
   considered independent from day-to-day politics.   
      
   Trump will be able to replace Chair Jerome Powell in May 2026, when   
   Powell's term expires. Yet 12 members of the Fed's interest-rate setting   
   committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even   
   replacing the Chair doesn't guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way   
   Trump wants.   
      
   All seven members of the Fed's governing board, however, are able to vote   
   on rate decisions. The other five voters include the president of the   
   Fed's New York branch and a rotating group of four of the presidents of   
   the Fed's other 11 regional branches.   
      
   Trump appointed two members of the Fed's board in his first term,   
   Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman. Both dissented July 30 from the   
   central bank's decision to keep its rate unchanged in favor of a rate cut.   
      
   Another Fed governor, Adriana Kugler, stepped down unexpectedly Aug. 1,   
   and Trump has appointed one of his economic advisers, Stephen Miran, to   
   fill out the remainder of her term until January.   
      
   If Trump is able to replace Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the   
   Fed's board, as well as Kugler and Powell, that would give him a clear   
   majority on the board of governors. Powell, however, could stay on the   
   board after finishing his term as chair next May.   
      
   The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the accusation.   
      
   Trump has for months demanded that the Federal Reserve reduce the short-   
   term interest rate it controls, which currently stands at about 4.3%. He   
   has also repeatedly insulted Powell, who has said that the Fed would like   
   to see more evidence of how the economy evolves in response to Trump's   
   sweeping tariffs before making any moves. Powell has also said the duties   
   threaten to raise inflation and slow growth.   
      
   Trump says that a lower rate would reduce the government's borrowing costs   
   on $37 trillion in debt and boost the housing market by reducing mortgage   
   rates. Yet mortgage borrowing costs do not always follow the Fed's rate   
   decisions.   
      
   The Trump administration has made similar claims of mortgage fraud against   
   Democrats that Trump has attacked, including California Sen. Adam Schiff   
   and New York Attorney General Letitia James.   
      
   https://www.chron.com/business/article/trump-calls-on-federal-reserve-   
   official-to-resign-20825705.php   
      
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