Trump “fires” Lisa Cook, escalating his war on the Federal Reserve

Donald Trump has not been shy: he wants interest rates down, fast. For months, the president has berated the Federal Reserve for dithering and cutting rates too slowly. In July he flirted with firing Jerome Powell, the Fed’s chair, but backed off. Another angle of attack opened up when Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, claimed that Lisa Cook, a governor on the central bank’s board, had lied on her mortgage applications.