President Donald Trump established a committee of inquiry on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, to investigate allegations against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, taking another step toward removing her from the central bank. The committee will hold a hearing at the White House on Nov. 5. Cook “shall” attend and answer questions, Trump’s written memo says. The hearing won’t be public, though the memo says officials will publish a transcript.
The inquiry puts presidential power in direct conflict with a Federal Reserve governor who votes on interest rates. Cook hasn’t been charged with a crime, and she denies wrongdoing. Trump appointed or elevated the committee’s members, including an adviser who has frequently echoed his criticism of the Fed.
A hearing behind closed doors
Cook’s attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Norman Eisen, said they were considering whether she would appear. They said they had engaged with the White House to assess whether its proposed process could be genuine “and not simply a box checking exercise.” Cook, they added, “welcomes the opportunity to present the facts so she can clear her name and demonstrate there is no legal basis to fire her.”
The committee includes Kevin Hassett, described as the president’s top economic adviser; Keith Sonderling, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, whom Trump also appointed to lead the Labor Department; and Andrea Lucas, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, whom Trump appointed in November 2025. The inquiry aims to establish whether there is “cause” to fire Cook under the law governing the Fed.
Trump first tried to fire Cook in August 2025, alleging she committed mortgage fraud by listing two different properties as her “primary” residence on mortgage applications in 2021. Mortgages on primary homes can often carry lower interest rates or other beneficial terms. Cook’s attorneys called the matter an “inadvertent error” and said she referred to one property as a vacation home in other documents. In August, they said, “An inadvertent error is not fraud, as the President and a third of his cabinet should know because they reportedly did the same thing.”
The Fed’s independence under pressure
The effort marks the first time in the Federal Reserve’s 113-year history that a president has sought to remove a Fed governor. Former President Joe Biden appointed Cook, the first Black woman on the Fed’s board. The article notes that Trump’s attacks on her followed other efforts to oust or indict Black officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Trump has also repeatedly demanded that the central bank cut its key interest rate. The Fed raised the rate the previous month, under Chairman Kevin Warsh, whom Trump appointed earlier in 2026. The vote on Sept. 16 was unanimous. Cook is one of the 12 voting members of the broader rate-setting committee, which has 19 officials in total. The Federal Reserve declined to comment on Trump’s announcement.
The legal test—and the president’s stated case
A Supreme Court ruling in June said Cook could keep her job after Trump sought to fire her the previous year. A footnote said nothing prevented Trump from “trying again” if Cook received proper notice and an opportunity to respond. The court said a for-cause firing required an alleged offense that was serious and related to an official’s job.
Scott Alvarez, formerly the chief counsel for the Fed, said the commission established by President William Howard Taft in 1912 was similar, but Trump’s commission goes beyond the process the Supreme Court said was needed. “It’s an attempt to show that he’s really giving Cook as much process as possible,” Alvarez said. He also said the allegations don’t appear to meet the court’s “for cause” standard. Jaret Seiberg, managing director of TD Cowen’s Washington Research Group, said in a note to clients, “We do not see why the White House would start this process if it were not trying to create a way to justify removing Cook from her job.”
Trump framed the inquiry as a presidential 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.”