WASHINGTON (AP) — In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday, lawyers for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook disputed allegations by a Trump administration official that she committed mortgage fraud.
President Donald Trump used the accusation as a basis to seek her firing, the first time a president has sought to remove a Fed governor in the central bank's 112-year history.
The letter is the first response by Cook to a criminal referral in August by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Pulte has made several other mortgage fraud accusations, including against leading Democrats such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff of California, and California Rep. Eric Swalwell.
The attempted firing occurred as Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed for not cutting its key interest rate quickly enough. If Cook is ultimately removed from her position, it would give the president the opportunity to appoint a fourth member to the Fed's seven-member board, securing a majority.
Cook sued to keep her job, and the Supreme Court ruled last month that she could remain in the position while she fights the administration in court. The Supreme Court has said it would hear arguments in the case in January.
In the letter Monday, Cook's attorney, Abbe Lowell, wrote that the case against her largely rests on “one stray reference” in a 2021 mortgage document that was “plainly innocuous in light of the several other truthful and more specific disclosures" about the homes she has purchased.
“There is no fraud, no intent to deceive, nothing whatsoever criminal or remotely a basis to allege mortgage fraud,” the letter said.
Cook is the first Black woman to serve on the Fed's governing board, and was appointed in 2022 by President Joe Biden.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department "does not comment on current or prospective litigation including matters that may be under investigation.” The FHFA did not respond to a request for comment.
In August, Pulte accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud by declaring two different homes — one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the other in Atlanta — as her “primary residence.” Such declarations can result in lower mortgage rates or a smaller down payment requirement than if a property is declared to be a second or vacation home.
“Do not declare two principal residences in President Trump’s America,” Pulte said Aug. 20 on social media platform X. “Mortgage fraud is a serious crime and must be prosecuted as such.”
Yet Lowell said Monday that Pulte has pursued mortgage fraud on a partisan basis, focusing on Democrats and refusing to pursue similar allegations against Republicans.
Pulte made a criminal referral to the Justice Department in August, and followed up with a second referral on a third property in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pulte alleged that Cook also classified that property as a primary residence, even though she rented it out.
Lowell argued that Cook has mostly lived in the Ann Arbor property since first purchasing it in 2005. As a result, it was accurate for her to refer to it as her “primary residence” in a June 2021 application to refinance its mortgage, the letter said.
A month later she purchased a condominium in Atlanta, and in a July 2021 document also referred to it as her “primary residence.” Lowell said that it was an “isolated notation” that did not reflect an intent to defraud. An earlier mortgage application to the same lender in May 2021 had referred to the Atlanta condo as a “vacation home," Lowell said. Cook also referred to it as a second home in federal filings during her confirmation process to become a Fed governor.
“It would be impossible to conclude that she intended to defraud the lender by inadvertently listing the property as her ‘Primary Residence,’” the letter said.
Lowell wrote that there was similarly no fraud involved in the Cambridge home, which she obtained while working as an economist for Harvard University.
Cook worked for the school for roughly five years when she bought the home in 2002 and obtained a mortgage that listed it as her primary residence. It remained her primary residence until she was hired as a tenure-track academic by Michigan State University and moved, Lowell said. She refinanced the Cambridge property in 2021 and redesignated it as a second-home, according to mortgage documents provided by Lowell.
On financial filings submitted to the government in connection with her nomination to the Fed, Cook also disclosed the home as a rental property and second home, the letter said.
“Once again, Director Pulte offers no evidence indicating that Governor Cook had the ‘required specific intent to defraud’ in relation to the Cambridge property,” Lowell wrote. “On the contrary, when Governor Cook refinanced the Cambridge property, she updated the mortgage to reflect that it was no longer her primary residence.”
Pulte has shown little appetite to investigate similar allegations of mortgage misconduct by members of Trump’s administration, allies of the president and even Pulte’s own father, which Cook’s attorney noted.
“One would expect that he would have made referrals to you based on the same types of documents about others,” Lowell wrote.
Though the White House has repeatedly defended Pulte, over the past month he also found himself the subject of unwanted scrutiny – and has angered other members of the administration. Earlier this month, he persuaded Trump about the allure of a 50-year mortgage as a way to increase home buying and building — a proposal that was widely criticized because it would drastically increase the overall price of a loan.
Pulte, who appointed himself chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has also rattled the housing industry by purging ethics officials and top leaders of the two government-sponsored mortgage giants, which hold trillions of dollars in assets.
Other top executives at Fannie Mae were forced out last month after they voiced alarm that a Pulte confidant had shared confidential pricing data with Freddie Mac, a top competitor.
The data sharing exposed the company to claims that it was colluding with a rival to fix mortgage rates, the AP reported last week.
Separately on Monday, Lowell, who also represents Letitia James, the New York attorney general charged by the Justice Department in a mortgage fraud investigation, asked a judge to dismiss a case that had also been pushed by Pulte.
Lowell cited what he said was “outrageous” conduct by Pulte and other officials and said that since his appointment to lead the FHFA, he had transformed the “little-known agency into a weapon to be brandished against President Trump’s political enemies.”
Pulte sought to press the investigation forward, the defense filing states, even as internal Fannie Mae investigators did not find clear and convincing evidence of fraud.
Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
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This story was edited to correct the spelling of “Bondi,” not “Biondi,” in the first sentence.
FILE - Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve Board of Governors member, reacts during an event at the Brookings Institution, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democrats demanded that federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally a man in Minneapolis, drawing hundreds of protesters onto the frigid streets and increasing tensions in a city already shaken by another shooting death weeks earlier.
Family members identified the man who was killed as Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse who protested President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city. After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and protesters clashed with federal officers, who wielded batons and deployed flash bangs.
The Minnesota National Guard was assisting local police at the direction of Gov. Tim Walz, officials said. Guard troops were sent to both the shooting site and a federal building where officers have squared off with demonstrators daily.
Information about what led up to the shooting was limited, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that federal officers were conducting an operation and fired “defensive shots” after a man with a handgun approached them and “violently resisted” when they tried to disarm him.
In bystander videos of the shooting that emerged soon after, Pretti is seen with a phone in his hand but none appears to show him with a visible weapon.
O'Hara said police believe he was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference that Pretti had shown up to “impede a law enforcement operation.” She questioned why he was armed but did not offer details about whether Pretti drew the weapon or brandished it at officers.
The officer who shot him is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials said.
The president weighed in on social media by lashing out at Walz and the Minneapolis mayor.
He shared images of the gun that immigration officials said was recovered and said: “What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers?”
Trump, a Republican, said the Democratic governor and mayor are “are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was among several Democratic lawmakers demanding federal immigration authorities leave Minnesota. She also urged Democrats to refuse to vote to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying via social media: “We have a responsibility to protect Americans from tyranny.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer later said that Democrats will not vote for a spending package that includes money for DHS, which oversees ICE. Schumer’s statement increases the possibility that the government could partially shut down Jan. 30 when funding runs out.
Pretti was shot just over a mile from where an ICE officer killed 37-year-old Renee Good on Jan. 7, sparking widespread protests.
Pretti's family released a statement Saturday evening saying they are “heartbroken but also very angry” and calling him a kindhearted soul who wanted to make a difference in the world through his work as a nurse.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed," the family statement said. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
In a bystander video obtained by The Associated Press, protesters are heard blowing whistles and shouting profanities at federal officers on Nicollet Avenue.
An officer shoves a person who is wearing a brown jacket, skirt and black tights and carrying a water bottle. That person reaches out for a man, and the two link up, embracing. The man, wearing a brown jacket and black hat, seems to be holding his phone up toward the officer.
The same officer shoves the man in his chest and the two, still embracing, fall back.
The video shifts to a different part of the street and then comes back to the two individuals unlinking from each other. It shifts focus again and then shows three officers surrounding the man.
Soon at least seven officers surround him. One is on his back, and another who appears to have a canister in his hand strikes a blow to his chest. Several officers try to bring the man’s arms behind his back as he appears to resist. As they pull his arms, his face is briefly visible. The officer with the canister strikes him near his head several times.
A shot rings out, but with officers surrounding the man, it’s not clear where it came from. Multiple officers back off. More shots are heard. Officers back away, and the man lies motionless on the street.
The police chief appealed for calm, both from the public and from federal law enforcement.
“Our demand today is for those federal agencies that are operating in our city to do so with the same discipline, humanity and integrity that effective law enforcement in this country demands,” the chief said. “We urge everyone to remain peaceful."
Gregory Bovino of U.S. Border Patrol, who has commanded the administration’s big-city immigration campaign, said the officer who shot the man had extensive training as a range safety officer and in using less-lethal force.
“This is only the latest attack on law enforcement. Across the country, the men and women of DHS have been attacked, shot at,” he said.
Walz said he had no confidence in federal officials and the state would lead the investigation into the shooting.
But Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said during a news conference that federal officers blocked his agency from the scene even after it obtained a signed judicial warrant.
Demonstrations broke out in several cities across the country including New York, Washington and Los Angeles.
In Minneapolis, protesters converged at the scene of the shooting in Minneapolis despite dangerously cold weather — by the afternoon the worst of an extreme cold wave was over, but the temperature was still -6 degrees (-21 Celsius).
An angry crowd gathered after the shooting and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home. One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: “Boo hoo.” Agents elsewhere shoved a yelling protester into a car. Protesters dragged garbage dumpsters from alleyways to block streets, and people chanted “ICE out now” and “Observing ICE is not a crime.”
As dark fell hundreds of people mourned quietly by a growing memorial at the site of the shooting. Some carried signs saying “Justice for Alex Pretti.” Others chanted Pretti's and Good's names. A doughnut shop and a clothing store nearby stayed open, offering protesters a warm place as well as water, coffee and snacks.
Caleb Spike said he came from a nearby suburb to show his support and his frustration. “It feels like every day something crazier happens,” he said. “What’s happening in our community is wrong, it’s sickening, it’s disgusting.”
Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell'Orto, Tim Sullivan and Sarah Raza in Minnesota, Jim Mustian in New York, Michael Catalini in New Jersey and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.
Federal agents deploy tear gas and other munitions into a crowd of people near the intersection of 27th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis after a federal officer shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Ben Hovland/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
People gather at the site where a federal officer shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Ben Hovland/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
A person holds up their hands as law enforcement deploys a thick screen of teargas on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Ben Hovland/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
