After a long campaign by Trump and his allies to influence the Federal Reserve over interest rates, Pulte elevated the pressure by accusing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell of lying to Congress and Fed board member Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud. He also made similar accusations against Democratic officials Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had previously led impeachment and civil investigations of Trump, respectively. Later, Pulte made a second criminal referral against Cook.

However, after repeated appearances on Fox News and Fox Business throughout July and August to push his claims of mortgage fraud against Trump's perceived opponents, Pulte apparently hasn’t appeared since a prerecorded September 6 guest appearance on My View with Lara Trump.

Even without Pulte on the airwaves, Fox hosts and guests continued pushing his attacks on Cook right up until new reporting from Reuters seemingly exonerated her.

• On September 4, ProPublica reported that “at least three of Trump’s Cabinet members call multiple homes their primary residences on mortgages.” The articles noted that Trump “has targeted opponents, including a Fed governor, for having more than one primary residence on their loan papers. ProPublica found that, in one case, a Trump cabinet secretary got two such mortgages in quick succession.” [ProPublica, 9/4/25]
• On September 5, a Reuters exclusive reported that Pulte’s close relatives improperly claimed a primary residence at two properties, which “has been the basis for” his “accusations against Lisa Cook.” In response to Reuters’ reporting, local tax officials in Michigan said the homestead tax exemption for Pulte’s father and stepmother would be revoked and “revised tax bills will be issued” to them, “including all applicable penalty and interest.” [Reuters, 9/5/25]
• On September 12, Reuters reported on paperwork from Cook that “appears to counter other documentation that Cook’s critics have cited in support of their claims that she committed mortgage fraud by reporting two different homes as her primary residence, two independent real-estate experts said.” Additionally, NBC News reported that “public records in Fulton County, Georgia, … show that no tax exemptions available for a primary residence were sought by Cook.” [Reuters, 9/12/25; NBC News, 9/12/25]
• On September 15, Reuters additionally reported that “the property tax authority in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook hasn’t broken rules for tax breaks on a home there that Cook declared her primary residence.” The report continued: “The finding, which came in response to a Reuters request that the city review Cook’s property records, could boost Cook’s defense against efforts by the Trump administration to remove her from the Federal Reserve board.” [Reuters, 9/15/25]
• On September 17, ABC News reported that federal prosecutors were unable to find sufficient evidence supporting charges from Pulte’s criminal referral against James in Virginia. The article explained that a mortgage document used as the basis for the mortgage fraud accusation against James “was never considered by the loan officers who approved the mortgage.” Trump later pressured the local U.S. attorney into resigning for not bringing charges in this case. [ABC News, 9/17/25; The Hill, 9/22/25]

• On September 2, Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo hosted Pulte to interview him about his second criminal referral against Cook. During the segment, Pulte also attacked Powell and said, “we couldn’t get a new chairman soon enough.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 9/2/25]
• After Fox Business host Charles Payne said it “looks like Jay Powell may be shifting gears to be more accommodative” on interest rates, Pulte demanded a 1% rate because “President Trump has come in and crushed inflation” and said: “Hopefully we have a new Fed chair very soon.” [Fox Business, Making Money with Charles Payne, 8/22/25]
• On August 21, Pulte said to Bartiromo: “I believe the president has ample cause to fire” Cook. “I would be surprised if she’s not suspended by the Federal Reserve this week,” he added, calling her a “circus clown.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 8/21/25]
• Fox News host Laura Ingraham called Pulte’s accusations against Schiff “poetic justice” because he “spent years obsessed with destroying Trump by any means necessary.” During Pulte’s August 20 interview on The Ingraham Angle, he bragged about targeting Trump opponents, saying: “I refer people every day to the Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice prosecutes cases like this all the time, Laura. And whether it's the Schiff case, or the Letitia James case, or this case, or all the other cases that we refer — this Cook one is not going away, and she can laugh all she wants but the law will catch up with her.” Pulte added: “She is going to resign, in my view, and if she doesn't resign, I do believe that the president has cause to fire her.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 8/20/25]
• Fox host Charles Hurt celebrated Pulte’s referral of criminal charges against Schiff and James. Hurt said James “maliciously prosecuted” Trump, and Pulte said she “maliciously went after President Trump for bogus fraud charges — he’s the farthest thing from a fraudster.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 8/8/25]
• As Bartiromo hosted Pulte to push complaints against Powell, Pulte called on the Fed chair to resign for not bowing to Trump’s wishes. Pulte said: “We have the most popular president in history. He just won a landslide mandate from the American people to be president of the United States. He's literally the most popular president we've ever had. But we have one guy, in the form of Jerome Powell, who just thinks that he is maybe more important than the economy and more important than everybody else by being a stubborn mule, as President Trump has called him. So it's a big problem, and Jerome Powell needs to resign.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 7/23/25]
• After Ingraham aired criticism of “the Fed Mahal,” Pulte echoed Trump’s attacks on Powell as a “numbskull” and said: “The problem is we’ve got this Fed chair and he’s standing in the way of ultimate success, so we’ve got to get rid of him.” After Ingraham said Powell “hates the tariffs,” Pulte responded: “He hallucinates that they cause inflation. They didn’t cause inflation. It’s total nonsense. But he will resign, I’m very confident in that. Once he does, this economy will boom like never before.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 7/22/25]
• Payne told Pulte “it makes me feel like maybe you’re right” that Powell should depart the Fed over Trump’s demands. During the interview, Pulte said Powell should leave the Fed because he’s “an obnoxious, arrogant, pompous person, and he’s saying, I’m not going to quit. I’m going to keep these rates high.” Pulte added: “And then on top of it, he doesn’t like our great president. So I think for all of those reasons, this guy is totally out of touch and keeping these rates way too high, and frankly something needs to be done.” Pulte then mentioned his objections to the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation as a reason for getting rid of Powell. [Fox Business, Making Money, 7/18/25]
• On July 15, Bartiromo and Pulte made clear Powell was being targeted due to Trump’s anger. Bartiromo said: “President Trump says he would love it if the chairman, Jay Powell, resigned over him not cutting rates soon enough, and of course now this new story of him spending money on the buildings.” Pulte accused Powell of “gross negligence” for not cutting interest rates due to concern over inflation from Trump’s tariffs and also accused him of “deceit and fraud” over the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation. Pulte said of the possibility of Powell resigning: “I think he should consider it very soon, and frankly I think you have a situation, Maria, where this building is going to be the end of his career.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 7/15/25]
• After Ingraham introduced Pulte as “the first official that I know of to call for Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, to step aside,” Pulte said “it’s time for Powell to go” because “the president doesn’t want him there.” Pulte said: “President Trump just won a landslide victory, and the president doesn't want him there. And he’s just so pompous, so arrogant. It's time for Powell to go. He’s too late with his resignation, OK, and he’s going to be too late resigning.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 7/14/25]
• During a June 20 appearance on Mornings with Maria, Pulte called for Powell to resign and seemingly suggested James was targeted because of her investigation of Trump. Pulte said: “It’s very ironic to me, Maria, that people went after the president, who has never done a dang thing wrong in his entire life in terms of the law, it’s totally crazy. This guy has been checked out eight ways to Sunday. And all of a sudden, many of these people may have been doing the same thing that they were accusing him of.” Bartiromo responded: “I don't think there's been more investigations on one person than President Trump.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 6/20/25]