Commerce Sec. Lutnick on Capitalism & Lisa Cook 8/26/25

Squawk Pod

CNBC

Business News, News, Investing, Business

4.2 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick discusses the government’s stake in Intel, including whether the Trump administration will create a sovereign wealth fund. In an extended interview, Sec. Lutnick also weighs in on President Trump’s effort to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her post at the central bank after White House official Bill Pulte alleged that Cook had committed mortgage fraud. CNBC’s Steve Liesman breaks down that story, the unprecedented politicization of the Fed, and what happens next–to both the U.S. economy and the economist herself. Howard Lutnick - 18:57 In this episode: Howard Lutnick, @howardlutnick Steve Liesman, @steveliesman Leslie Picker, @LesliePicker Wilfred Frost, @WilfredFrost Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bring in show music, please.
0:03.0	Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer.
0:07.0	Today on Squawk Pod.
0:09.0	Fired?
0:10.0	I don't know if she's fired. Do you know if she's fired?
0:13.0	He said that she's fired.
0:16.0	President Donald Trump taking action to fire a governor of the Federal Reserve Board, Lisa Cook,
0:21.4	who his administration says engaged in mortgage fraud,
0:24.7	are Steve Leasman with the latest reporting and the implications.
0:28.5	The whole purpose of having independence is to separate the long-term exigencies of making monetary policy
0:36.6	with the immediate gratification desired by the political
0:40.7	process.
0:42.1	Plus, Howard Lutnik Commerce Secretary says this is not about politics.
0:46.8	The policy is what matters.
0:48.4	If the Federal Reserve actually cared about the United States of America, they'd understand
0:53.5	that they could cut interest rates, cost the United States of America, they'd understand that they could cut interest
0:55.4	rates, cost the United States of American taxpayer, less money. And the new activist-like approach
1:02.0	of the government toward publicly traded companies with other shareholders, Lutnik says better investment
1:07.7	and higher tariffs are good for business. We're not starting a sovereign wealth fund.
1:12.6	What you're going to see is you're going to be,
1:14.6	you're going to see a national and economic security fund
1:18.6	built with the Japanese money, the Korean money,
	...

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