Trump Sets White House Hearing for Nov. 5 on Fed Governor Lisa Cook's Mortgage Statements

President Donald Trump has established a "committee of inquiry" to investigate whether Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook made false statements on mortgage documents. The White House posted the presidential memorandum Friday, Oct. 9. It is dated Wednesday.

The committee's job, in the memo's words, is to "report to me whether there is 'cause' for Governor Cook's removal."

Who is on the panel

Three executive branch officials make up the committee:

• Kevin Hassett, Trump's chief economic aide
• Keith Sonderling, acting head of the Office of Government Ethics
• Andrea Lucas, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The memo names no outside or independent arbiters. Members may consult the Justice Department and other agencies "to aid in its inquiry."

What the memo requires of Cook

The committee will hold an in-person hearing at the White House on Nov. 5, two days after the midterm elections. Cook "shall appear at the hearing and be examined by the Committee," the memo says.

She may present argument, written evidence and written witness statements, and she may submit a written position statement beforehand. The hearing will not be public, but a transcript will be published.

Trump framed the move as a matter of duty. "As President, it is my job to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, including by firing subordinates who cannot be trusted to tell the truth and follow the law," he wrote.

How the Supreme Court set this up

Trump first tried to fire Cook on Aug. 25, 2025, after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte accused her of mortgage fraud. The accusation centers on two properties that she allegedly declared as her "primary" residence in 2021 mortgage applications. Primary-home mortgages can carry lower rates or better terms.

Cook denied wrongdoing and sued. A federal court temporarily barred her removal. In June, the Supreme Court narrowly sided with her, 5-4, according to the NY Post. A footnote in that ruling said nothing prevented Trump from "trying again," provided Cook received proper notice and a chance to respond to the charges.

The memo is that second try. It supplies a notice and a hearing, which is what the Court said had been missing.

Cook's response

Cook has not been charged with a crime. Her attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Norm Eisen, have said she made an "inadvertent error" and did describe one of the properties as a vacation home in other documents. "An inadvertent error is not fraud," they said in August.

On the new process, they were pointed. "In light of the President's repeated statements that he has already decided to fire Governor Cook, regardless of the facts and evidence, we have grave doubts that this 'hearing' is a legitimate one that would conform to the law," they said in a statement.

They added: "But if it is anything close to objective, the conclusion will be that Governor Cook did not commit mortgage fraud, leaving no cause to remove her from the Federal Reserve Board."

They said they have been engaging with the White House to judge whether the process "has a possibility of being a genuine one and not simply a box checking exercise." They also said Cook "welcomes the opportunity to present the facts so she can clear her name." The lawyers said they are weighing whether she will appear on Nov. 5.

The rate fight in the background

The Fed raised its key rate on Sept. 16 under Chairman Kevin Warsh, whom Trump appointed earlier this year. The vote was unanimous. Cook is one of the 12 voting members of the rate-setting committee.

Trump spent months attacking Warsh's predecessor, Jerome Powell, for not cutting fast enough. He has since turned on what he calls a "hostile" Fed board. Trump and some of his economic advisers have blamed the broader committee for the hike.

The memo itself says nothing about interest rates. It rests on the mortgage allegations alone.

Unusual step

No president has ever fired a Fed governor. Trump's attempts to remove Cook mark the first time in the central bank's 113-year history that a president has sought to do so.

The same day the Court protected Cook, it ruled in a separate case that Trump could fire officials at other independent regulatory agencies for any reason. The Fed is the carve-out.

What comes next is concrete. Cook's side must decide whether to show up on Nov. 5 and treat the hearing as real. The committee, made up entirely of officials who answer to the president, then reports back to the man who has said he wants her gone. If Trump fires her afterward, expect a return to court, where a judge will have to decide whether the process met the standard the Supreme Court's footnote laid out.