By Michael S. Derby
(Reuters) -President Donald Trump's nominee to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Stephen Miran, has a mortgage on a home formerly listed as his primary residence that he is now using as a rental property, according to his latest financial disclosure statement.
A filing made public on Friday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics showed that a mortgage secured in 2022 by Miran, currently chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisors, had changed status. An endnote on the document
said the loan - on a home valued at between $500,000 and $1 million and with an interest rate of 2.375% - was “previously reported as a mortgage on a primary residence; began renting out the property during the reporting period.”
Miran’s disclosure that he is renting out a property initially mortgaged as a primary residence comes as Trump is attempting to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook over her loans on personal properties listed as primary residences.
Miran did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his financial disclosure.
Miran's nomination to fill a seat on the seven-member Fed board that opened unexpectedly last month with the resignation of Adriana Kugler is pending before the Senate. A vote over advancing his candidacy to the full Senate is expected on Wednesday in the Senate Banking Committee.
In his confirmation hearing last week, Miran was pressed on whether he would keep his own counsel as a monetary policymaker or whether he would take direction from Trump, who has aggressively pressured the central bank to cut interest rates.
The ethics filing offers no details about the location of the property nor about terms of the loan beyond the interest rate, including whether it contained any requirement that it be Miran's primary residence.
Last month, Trump said he was firing Cook over allegations she’d taken out loans before she joined the Fed for properties listed on mortgage documents as her primary residences that were later rented out. Mortgage rates for properties listed as a primary residence typically are lower than rental properties and often offer the borrower potential tax benefits.
Cook is being investigated by the Department of Justice over the loans. Trump last year was convicted of falsifying business documents.
Questions about mortgage practices by government officials have been pervasive enough that Miran was asked about his mortgage in his confirmation hearing, leading him to state that his borrowing has been above board. Miran’s disclosure statement does not suggest any impropriety.
INDEPENDENCE UNDER THREAT
Trump’s move to fire a Fed board member is unprecedented. Fed governors by law can only be fired for cause, but it is unclear what that exactly means. Cook has sued Trump to challenge her firing, and the Fed has said it will abide by the outcome of any court decision.
Congress designed the Fed as an independent institution to protect it from political pressure and to allow it to make tough decisions about the conduct of monetary policy without the interference of elected officials.
Since returning to office earlier this year, Trump has waged a high-pressure campaign on the Fed to cut interest rates at a time when policymakers have been struggling to deal with the inflationary implications of the president’s trade policies.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May, giving the president an opportunity soon to nominate a new central bank chief. Trump has argued low rates will help cheapen government borrowing costs, which is not one of the mandates assigned to the Fed by Congress.
(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
