President Trump is taking another shot at firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. On Friday he created a three-person “committee of inquiry” to investigate claims she lied on mortgage applications, and ordered her to appear at a closed-door White House hearing on November 5, two days after the midterms.
No president has ever removed a Fed governor in the central bank’s 113-year history. All three committee members are Trump appointees.
What is the committee investigating Lisa Cook?
Trump’s memo names Kevin Hassett, his top economic adviser and a frequent Fed critic; Keith Sonderling, acting head of the Office of Government Ethics and Labor secretary; and Andrea Lucas, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Cook “shall” attend the Nov. 5 hearing and can bring a lawyer. It won’t be public, but a transcript will be released, the AP reported. She’ll have until Nov. 10 to respond, then the committee recommends whether Trump has “cause” to fire her. Trump makes the final call, with no deadline, CNBC reported.
Why is Trump trying to fire Lisa Cook?
Trump first tried to fire her in August 2025, after his housing finance director accused her of claiming two homes as her “primary” residence on 2021 mortgage applications, which can mean a better rate. Cook has denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged with a crime. Her lawyers have called it an “inadvertent error” and noted she listed one property as a vacation home in other documents.
The Supreme Court blocked the first attempt on procedural grounds in June, ruling Cook was entitled to notice, an explanation of the evidence and a chance to defend herself, but that Trump could try again. Chief Justice John Roberts pointed to a 1912 “committee of inquiry” President Taft used to remove two federal appraisers, which appears to be the model for this one.
Cook’s lawyers, Abbe Lowell and Norman Eisen, said they’re weighing whether she’ll appear. “Governor Cook welcomes the opportunity to present the facts so she can clear her name,” they said, but they want to know whether the process “has a possibility of being a genuine one and not simply a box checking exercise.”
Why does this matter for your wallet?
The Fed sets the interest rates behind your credit card, car loan and mortgage. It’s supposed to be independent so those decisions are based on the economy, not the White House’s political needs. Trump has pressed for rate cuts for years, but the Fed, now led by his own pick, Kevin Warsh, raised rates last month to fight inflation. If a president can remove governors he disagrees with, markets may start pricing in political risk, which can push long-term borrowing costs up, not down.
The BeezLoop Take
If Cook committed mortgage fraud, the place to prove it is a court, where she’d face a neutral judge. Instead the president picked three of his own appointees, one of whom has spent years attacking the Fed, to decide whether he has cause to fire someone he already wanted gone. That’s not an inquiry. It’s a verdict looking for a process.
Cook is the first Black woman on the Fed’s board, and the AP notes she’s one of several Black officials Trump has tried to oust or prosecute. Whatever the motive, the precedent is the real danger: the next president could use the same playbook on a Fed governor from the other party.
The open question: if the committee recommends firing her, will the Supreme Court let it stand?
Also on BeezLoop: Fed minutes show most officials expect another rate hike by year end, and what rising rates mean for $1.26 trillion in credit card debt.
Sources: AP via PBS NewsHour · CNBC · CBS News · CBS News (video)
