Some political experts have voiced concern that President Donald Trump and his allies are “blatantly using the legal system to intimidate political opponents.” These concerns stem from the administration’s new strategy of targeting political foes through mortgage-fraud allegations.
According to a report published in The Guardian Sunday, political experts pointed out a “pattern of lawfare” that mirrors tactics characteristic of authoritarian governments in Hungary and Russia.
New York Attorney General Letitia James became the first target of this tactic, followed by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). And now it's Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who has been publicly pressured to resign — and even threatened with dismissal.
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Cook, notably the first Black woman appointed to the Fed’s Board of Governors, was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022 and holds a 14‑year term extending to 2038.
In a statement on the matter, Cook said that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet."
She added: “I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”
The piece added that at the forefront of this strategy is Bill Pulte, a Trump‐appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Pulte is said to have used his position to level extraordinary accusations, posting them on social media and urging legal scrutiny.
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He added, “What we are seeing is the type of weaponization we associate with authoritarian regimes, like Hungary, Turkey or Russia. I would say that this is a massive warning sign, but the reality is that we have seen so many of these signs at this point.”
The report noted that these allegations aren’t confined to Democrats. An Associated Press investigation revealed that Republican Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General and Trump ally, alongside his then-wife, also labeled three homes as their primary residences. Paxton hasn’t addressed his own accusations but said of James: “I hope that if she’s done something wrong, I hope that she’s held accountable.”
The article also pointed out that owner‑occupancy fraud is not rare. Philadelphia Fed researchers estimated in 2023 that over 20,000 loans had been granted to “fraudulent investors” who claimed multiple primary residences within a single year.