The Trump administration is pursuing wholesale change at the Federal Reserve with a ruthlessness and creativity that few Fed watchers could have imagined.

Why it matters: The president's demands for lower interest rates are not just rhetoric, and his attacks aren't limited to insults of chair Jerome Powell.

• Rather, the administration is pursuing a sophisticated, multifront war to try to install loyalists atop the Fed much faster than normal turnover would allow.

The big picture: This morning, the top housing finance regulator posted a criminal referral accusing Cook of mortgage fraud. She allegedly has mortgages on two separate homes, each of which she claims is her primary residence.

• We saw the first glimpses of the strategy last month, with claims that Powell lied to Congress and/or violated the law through changes and cost overruns on the Fed's $2.5 billion renovation project.
• Politico reported yesterday that President Trump is seeking a lightning-fast Senate confirmation for top White House economist Stephen Miran as a Fed governor — in time for him to push for rate cuts at a policy meeting less than a month away.

Between the lines: Trump and his allies are trying to establish the predicate to fire Fed governors for cause so that they can put in place leadership who will deliver the looser monetary policy Trump demands — and act with less independence from the president's desires going forward.

• In the meantime, they are looking to make life as unpleasant as possible for Powell, Cook, and other Biden-appointed Fed leaders.

Driving the news: Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, posted on X a letter to the attorney general stating that it appears Cook "has falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statutes."

• She took out a mortgage on a Michigan house represented to be her principal residence, and shortly thereafter a loan on an Atlanta condominium that was also described as her principal residence, according to Pulte's letter.
• There is no accusation or evidence that Cook has defaulted on either loan. Pulte has used the same tactic to pursue prominent Trump antagonists, namely California Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats.
• President Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "Cook must resign, now!!!" The Wall Street Journal reported that he is considering firing Cook for cause, citing two unnamed sources.

Zoom out: If the new allegations result in Cook resigning or being successfully fired for cause, Trump would move close to his appointees having operating control of the Fed's powerful Board of Governors.

• Miran, once confirmed, will join Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller as Trump appointees on the seven-person board. With another vacancy, Trump appointees would attain a 4-3 majority.
• That would give Trump appointees power over the Fed system's budgets, staffing, and selection of reserve bank presidents.

Zoom in: Cook's term is not scheduled to expire until 2038, so her successful early removal would advance that goal far ahead of what the calendar would allow.

Of note: The 12 presidents of reserve banks serve five-year terms that are all scheduled to expire at the end of February. The Board of Governors must vote to approve their reappointment.

• In other words, a majority of the Board of Governors could, if it wishes, oust some or all of the bank presidents just a few months from now.

Economists are casting fresh doubt on data that showed a rebound in new construction last month.

Why it matters: The housing market might be on shakier footing than official indicators suggest.

Driving the news: Homebuilders broke ground on new construction at the fastest pace since February last month, the government said yesterday.

• Taken alone, it might have offered hope that the housing market was emerging from its yearslong slump.
• But elsewhere in the report, building permits — which foreshadow new construction — fell to the lowest level since 2020, the latest in a string of declines this year.

The big picture: Housing starts rose roughly 5% from a month earlier, but the margin of error is notoriously large: The actual number might be anywhere between a drop of 9% and a gain of 20%.

• "I know the topic of [government] data is sensitive these days, but if we take the noise out and just look at these start numbers objectively, they don't add up," Jay Parsons, a housing economist, wrote on X.

Between the lines: Construction has been held down by high interest rates that are both boosting financing costs for builders and keeping a lid on demand for buyers.

• "I think we're referring to it as a bit of a 'frozen housing market,' with 40-plus-year-low turnover rates, and even new [housing] starts are straddling a bit," Home Depot CEO Ed Decker said on the company's earnings call yesterday.
• He added that lower interest rates "would certainly help," but it was difficult to pick the level that "unlocks turnover and mobility in U.S. housing and in new construction."

The other side: Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison told investors this morning that there was "a healthy pipeline" on home renovation projects and home construction, in part because of pent-up demand from delayed projects.

The bottom line: There are new questions about the health of the housing market and the data that is used to gauge it.