Sometimes, there’s political news that’s notable at face value, but just below the surface there’s an even more important story happening. Take this NBC News report, for example:
[T]he director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, a sharp critic of the Fed, alleged in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that [Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook] ‘falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud.’ In the letter that Pulte called a ‘criminal referral,’ he said that his agency had obtained her mortgage documents and requested that the Justice Department review the matter.
Donald Trump, who is desperate to bring the Federal Reserve to heel, responded to the allegations with a four-word statement published to his social media platform: “Cook must resign, now!!!”
For her part, Cook, an economist named to the Fed board by Joe Biden, said in a statement that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet.”
At this point, the story probably seems relatively straightforward, even if many of the relevant players are not widely known to the general public: A federal housing official believes a Federal Reserve official did something wrong, and the accused has denied wrongdoing. Maybe the Justice Department will pursue the matter, maybe not. Time will tell.
But then there’s the story behind the story.








