Former Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Coogler’s sudden resignation from the board on August 1 and his unexplained absence at a key meeting two days ago were shocked and confused by the financial community.
Former Democratic President Joe Biden was appointed to fill the surprising vacancy on the Fed Committee, and the cooler’s term confirmed in 2023 was not due to expire until January 2026.
In his August 1 resignation letter addressed to Trump, Coogler did not explain why he left her job a few months before her term ended.
“I am writing to inform you that I have resigned from my position as governor of the Federal Reserve on August 8, 2025,” she wrote.
“It has been a lifelong honor to serve the Federal Reserve Governor’s Committee.”
The Federal Reserve said in a press release on August 1 that Kugler will “return to Georgetown University this fall.”
However, the Coogler faculty page on the Georgetown website does not indicate that they are teaching the course this fall.
On the contrary, the university still lists Coogler as “while on vacation from Georgetown” and “governor of the Federal Reserve Committee.”
A Georgetown spokesperson did not reply to questions sent via CNBC about Coogler’s status at the university.
Trump suggested that Coogler resigned because he “opposed someone in the party.”
“She disagreed with the interest rates saying, ‘too late’ so we see what happens,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn on August 1.
The mystery surrounding Coogler’s resignation and questions about whether she may have been pressured to resign have gained a new urgency in the weeks since she resigned.
This week, Kugler declined to request CNBC for an explanation as to why she resigned so suddenly.
She also refused to say whether anyone had pressured her to resign from the Fed.
Campaign against Cook
On August 20, Federal Housing Finance Director William Plute announced that he had launched a campaign to resign from Coogler’s former colleague, Governor Lisa Cook.
Specifically, Pulte accused Cook of committing “mortgage fraud” by listing two properties as “major residences” in mortgage documents. He also suggested that she could receive a lower interest rate if both properties were considered “major” homes.
On August 15, Pulte filed a criminal referral against Cook, claiming he committed a mortgage fraud with the Department of Justice.
Five days later, President Donald Trump said he was fired the chef over the charges, writing in a letter he posted to social media that he had given him enough cause to “remove you from your position.”
Cook responded to Trump’s letter a few hours later, saying, “There is no cause under the law. He “has no authority to remove her from the board of directors.”
“I will not resign,” Cook said in a statement. “Since 2022, I will continue to do my duties to support the American economy.”
Cook sued the Trump administration on August 28, claiming that the president’s supposed “cause” was a smokescreen on real grounds that he tried to remove her, and a policy dispute over interest rates. The case is being played out in federal courts.
Pulte also accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democrat California Sen. Adam Schiff (two of Trump’s longtime legal antagonists) of mortgage irregularities.
James, Schiff and Cook deny misconduct either directly or through their attorneys.
Cooler Real Estate Records
But Cook is not the only high-ranking Fed official to raise a personal property record questioning which of her property she lives in.
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak with Michelle Bowman (L), vice-chairman of oversight, Lisa Cook (second R), and vice-chairman of the Board of Directors Governor (R).
Saul Roeve | AFP | Getty Images
Kugler’s personal financial disclosures and CNBC review of Maryland’s state tax records revealed two seemingly incompatible explanations of Kugler’s major residences.
Kugler told CNBC Thursday that the obvious inconsistency in her real estate records was an error by county tax officials.
Kugler’s Government Ethics Financial Disclosure lists “personal residence” mortgages in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 form forms ranging from $1-5 million.
However, the current state tax records for that property in Bethesda, Maryland contain a section that records whether the home is the owner’s “primary residence.”
Kugler’s records state that section “Major residence: No.”
During the same year, official records show that Coogler and her husband owned another single family home in Bethesda, which was then sold and sold in 2023 for $1.45 million.
These records have not been reported previously.
There are no indications that Coogler did anything inappropriate or recognized the excessive financial benefits from her housing or tax status.
Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler will speak at the annual Economic Summit held at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy in Palo Alto, California, USA on March 1, 2024.
Anne Safir | Reuters
Kugler’s situation is also very different from Cook’s situation. This differs significantly in that Kugler’s property issues record does not include only mortgage applications, tax records, or federal disclosure reports.
And it is not uncommon to disclose personal residences in ethical forms that are not “primary residences.”
The different terms used in official documents may sound similar, but they have very different legal meanings, such as primary residence, private residence, and primary residence.
Nevertheless, it is not clear from the records of their face coolers who actually lived in the years she was an official in the Biden administration.
Kugler also owns a third property in Rockville, near Rockville, Maryland, and reported rental income of between $15,000 and $50,000 in 2023.
Dr. Adriana Kugler, a candidate to become a member of the Federal Reserve System board, testified at a Senate bank nomination hearing on June 21, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Drew Ander | Getty Images
Kugler said, “My primary residence has always been listed in my financial disclosures and this residence has never been rented,” Kugler said in a statement to CNBC provided by those authorized to speak on her behalf.
“After moving to this residence, I submitted an address change in Montgomery County in July 2021, but it appears that Montgomery County was unable to update it with that record. We recommend that Montgomery County is in the process of revising its records to reflect changes to its address request in 2021.”
A Montgomery County spokesman said Friday that the county does not have the capacity/power to handle Maryland’s assessment and taxation.
Inconsistent real estate records become the kind of ammunition the Trump administration used to target political enemies, often citing records that publicly accuse people of committing “fraud.”
Trump’s weapon of choice
For the president, the stakes surrounding Kugler and the interests surrounding the Fed Committee seat were never high.
Coogler’s resignation gave Trump the opportunity to choose a successor to fill her seat until the end of Coogler’s term.
Trump chose White House adviser Stephen Milan. A Senate confirmation hearing was held in Washington on Thursday.
Sitting Fed Committee Miran will mark Trump’s victory in a months-long battle with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to control a very powerful institution and its interest rate adjusting agency.
There are few priorities that are important to the President than affecting freedom over the central bank.
Trump has long accused the Fed of making interest rate decisions motivated by political bias against him.
He and his administration have also accused Powell of deliberately suppressing US economic growth.
Since he took office in January, Trump has put strong pressure on Powell and other Fed governors to cut borrowing costs.
That pressure was on display Friday morning when Trump wrote on social media that “Jerome is too late.”
His White House press secretary later said that Trump “continuedly pulled back by Jerome of his stupid refusal to admit that President Trump is right about everything.”
Milan sat down and Trump nominated three of the seven governors on the board, taking one step closer to what he describes as his goal of controlling the central bank.
The day after he tried to fire the cook, Trump thought that four of the seven governors would become his candidates after she was gone and his successor was confirmed.
US Secretary of State Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses, Commerce Secretary of Commerce Howard Rutnik and Interior Secretary Doug Burgham will attend a Cabinet meeting held at the White House in Washington, D.C. on August 26, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
“We’ll have a majority soon,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting held at the White House on August 26th. “That’s great.”
“If the majority comes, the houses will be shaken, and that’s going to be great,” the president said.
“People are too high interest rates. That’s the only problem for us. We have to cut our interest rates a little,” he added.
