Congressman Barr joins Cheryl Casone on Mornings with Maria on Thursday, August 28. Full interview on the Fed firing, Trump and Barr’s China policy, and the Afghanistan withdrawal four-year mark is here.
Washington, D.C.—Today, U.S. Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY), Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, the first House GOP member to publicly support President Trump’s firing of former Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, doubled down on his praise of the President’s work to clean up the Fed. The transcript of Barr’s interview on Fox Business that discussed the Fed shakeup is below:
“Fed independence should not be confused with a total lack of accountability by Fed Governors. The reality is that the Federal Reserve is not just the central bank in charge of the conduct of monetary policy and interest rate policy, the Federal Reserve is the top bank regulator of the United States and the duty of a Federal Reserve Governor is to prevent mortgage fraud, not commit it.
“The fact pattern here is very clear. You have a Fed Governor alleged to have applied for a mortgage on two separate residences in a span of two weeks where she’s claiming a primary residence on both. This falls squarely within the definition of owner occupancy fraud under 18 U.S. code 1014. We need a Federal Reserve that is beyond reproach, beyond even the appearance of impropriety in matters of personal finances. And here, the President has cause to dismiss her, to restore accountability and integrity at the Federal Reserve.
“Of course, she did hire Hunter Biden’s lawyer here but he needs to brush up on the law. Because section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act gives the President to dismiss a Fed Governor for cause. It’s happened before in history. And there’s no better example of for cause removal than the malfeasance that’s being alleged here so what’s interesting is we have not heard any substantive defense offered by Governor Cook or her legal team here. All we hear is an indignant citation of Fed independence when there is no apology, there is no recognition that she made a mistake or some claim that she made a mistake. It’s just hiding behind this faux defense of Fed independence. Fed independence does not mean that Fed Governors can commit mortgage fraud with immunity.”