Lawyers for Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor whom President Trump has sought to fire, on Monday rebutted allegations of mortgage fraud and said that a housing official who had levied them had coordinated with the White House to smear the president’s enemies.
Ms. Cook’s legal team, led by Abbe D. Lowell, sent a letter to the department saying that there was no evidence that Ms. Cook had intentionally made false representations that three different properties were her primary residence. Instead, Mr. Lowell argued, those representations merely reflected her movements as a distinguished economist whose career took her all over the country.
The letter also took direct aim at Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, saying that he had used his post to “investigate and target the President’s designated political enemies.”
The White House declined to comment. The Justice Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Pulte has become a reliable ally of President Trump in part by attacking his adversaries, including Ms. Cook; Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California; and Attorney General Letitia James of New York. He accused all of them of mortgage fraud.
It is unclear whether his accusations will survive scrutiny; while Ms. James was eventually indicted, the accusations did not involve properties that Mr. Pulte had identified.
Mr. Pulte has drawn criticism from congressional Democrats for sidestepping the usual process of allowing the agency’s inspector general to investigate claims of mortgage fraud, instead taking it upon himself to make criminal referrals to federal prosecutors.
The agency’s acting inspector general, John Allen, had been looking into aspects of the referrals made by Mr. Pulte when he was removed from his post a little over a week ago, said a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak about it. Mr. Allen returned to his prior job as chief counsel for the agency’s inspector general.
Mr. Pulte has said he relied on tips and public information before making his referrals and publicizing some on his X social media account, which has about 3 million followers.
In August, Mr. Trump seized on his allegations and announced he was firing Ms. Cook. The president has been frustrated at the Fed’s slow pace at cutting interest rates and is seeking stronger influence on the leadership of the Federal Reserve.
She has notched legal victories since, with the Supreme Court siding with lower courts in allowing her to stay on as a governor as her case is being litigated. The justices will hear arguments on the case on Jan. 21.
Ms. Cook’s lawyers have previously been focused on keeping her in her job. But their letter on Monday addressed the specifics of the allegations against her. Mr. Pulte had suggested Ms. Cook might have committed crimes by stating in housing paperwork over the years that she held primary residences in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts.
Ms. Cook is being investigated in Michigan and Georgia, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a continuing investigation.
Mr. Lowell’s response was systematic, explaining why Ms. Cook had indicated she was using her properties as primary residences in each of the states.
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Michigan: Mr. Lowell said that the Michigan house was Ms. Cook’s primary residence when she purchased it in 2005, having begun a job as a professor at Michigan State University. She refinanced the home in 2021 and again referred to it as her primary residence, which it was, Mr. Lowell said.
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Georgia: In a mortgage application for an Atlanta condo unit in 2021, Ms. Cook referred to the apartment as if it would be her primary residence. While Mr. Lowell implied that was not the case, he said that Ms. Cook had also informed the lender that she would be using the condo as a vacation home. The conflicting rationales make it difficult to argue that she was attempting to fool the lender, he wrote.
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Massachusetts: Before her stint at Michigan State University, Ms. Cook was an economist at Harvard University. In 2002, she bought a home there, listing it as her primary residence, which it was. In 2021, she refinanced the home, converting into a second home with a document that was approved by a bank.
More generally, housing and legal experts have said, paperwork errors and the changing nature of peoples’ housing can make such cases difficult to pursue.
Mr. Lowell also noted that recent reporting has indicated that Trump administration officials — including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — have similarly identified multiple properties as principal residences in mortgage filings.
“Director Pulte has ignored many of those allegations,” Mr. Lowell wrote, adding that those whom he had failed to refer “share a commonality — they involve Trump-aligned Republicans.”
Mr. Trump’s attempt to oust Ms. Cook from the Fed marks the most aggressive effort yet to put pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates. The president has called for significantly lower borrowing costs, which he believes are crucial to unleashing an economic boom. Most of his attacks on the Fed have focused on its chair, Jerome H. Powell, but in August, he seized on the allegations raised by Mr. Pulte and announced he was firing Ms. Cook.
A president has only a limited ability to remove Fed governors, who are nominated by the White House and confirmed by the Senate. The law stipulates that a president must have “cause,” which legal experts have interpreted to mean malfeasance or a dereliction of duty. Governors also serve 14-year terms to insulate them from political interference.
If Mr. Trump succeeds in removing Ms. Cook, economists and legal experts warn that the central bank would lose any semblance of independence. The president would wield enormous discretion in shaping the top ranks of the institution.
Mr. Trump put one of his top economic advisers, Stephen I. Miran, on the Fed’s board to serve out a term vacated by Adriana D. Kugler in August. Ms. Kugler, who resigned abruptly in August, was found to have repeatedly violated the bank’s trading rules in new disclosures released on Saturday.
Mr. Trump is also in the process of selecting another chair to replace Mr. Powell, whose term ends in May.
Devlin Barrett contributed reporting.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area’s federal and state courts.
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