President Donald Trump ordered Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to answer questions at a White House hearing, opening another route to remove her from office. The hearing is set for Nov. 5 and won’t be public, though officials say they’ll publish a transcript.
“We have engaged with the White House to evaluate whether the process proposed has a possibility of being a genuine one and not simply a box checking exercise,” Cook’s attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Norman Eisen, said. They said Cook welcomes the opportunity to present facts and show there’s no legal basis to fire her.
A hearing built by the president
Trump established a “committee of inquiry” to investigate allegations that Cook made false statements in mortgage applications. In a written memo, he said she “shall” attend and answer questions. Cook has denied wrongdoing and hasn’t faced a criminal charge.
The committee includes Kevin Hassett, the president’s top economic adviser, who has frequently echoed Trump’s criticism of the Federal Reserve; 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.
Trump first tried to fire Cook in August 2025, alleging she declared two properties her “primary” residence in 2021 mortgage applications. Mortgages on primary homes can often bring lower interest rates or other beneficial terms. Lowell and Eisen have said Cook referred to one property as a vacation home in other documents and called the application a mistake. “An inadvertent error is not fraud, as the President and a third of his cabinet should know because they reportedly did the same thing,” they said in August.
The dispute extends beyond Cook’s mortgage forms. Trump has repeatedly urged the Federal Reserve to cut its key interest rate, but the Fed raised it last month. The Sept. 16 vote was unanimous among the 12 voting members, including Cook, after Chairman Kevin Warsh signaled higher rates were likely in August. Trump appointed Warsh earlier this year, then blamed the broader rate-setting committee for the increase.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that Cook could keep her job after Trump sought to fire her the previous year. A footnote said nothing prevented him from “trying again” if she received proper notice and an opportunity to respond. The court said a for-cause firing required an alleged offense serious and related to the official’s job.
Sanctions bend around fuel prices
In a separate move, Trump said he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia to supply diesel, reversing years of U.S. pressure over Russia’s war with Ukraine. Trump announced that Russia would immediately provide more than 300,000 tons, followed by 500,000 tons in November, 1 million tons “immediately thereafter” and another 3 million tons “within a short period of time.”
Trump signed a sweeping Russia sanctions law last month, intended to curb energy revenues that help fuel the war. The law directs the administration to target the top importers of Russian oil and gas. Trump didn’t address the sanctions or the war in his announcement. He said, “Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority.”
The Treasury Department soon issued a temporary license allowing Russian diesel onto the global market. Under the license, U.S. sanctions won’t apply until April 2027 to Russian diesel loaded onto tankers as of Friday. The White House didn’t immediately say who would pay for the diesel, when it would be available, or whether supplies expected next month would arrive before Election Day on Nov. 3.
The costs remain unresolved
U.S. diesel averaged $6.28 a gallon after reaching a record $6.52 on Sept. 22, according to AAA. Diesel futures fell after Trump’s announcement, but the effect on oil prices remained unclear amid global supply shortages.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the deal “a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners.” He said Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were meeting with Ukrainian officials in Miami about a proposal to end the war when Trump announced the deal. “I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And that is certainly not fair. It is certainly not how partners should treat each other,” Zelenskyy said.
The U.S. had not imported Russian oil or gas since 2022, when the Biden administration banned them after Moscow invaded Ukraine, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Russia had banned diesel exports since July as it struggled to meet domestic demand after Ukrainian attacks on its oil refineries. The International Energy Agency said Russian diesel output had fallen about 30%.
Energy Policy Research Foundation analyst Michael Lynch said shifting diesel supplies might not lower prices: “If we get diesel from Russia, basically it means that their existing customers are not going to get it and they’ll have to go somewhere else, and that will keep the price basically where it is now.” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow was “immediately starting to lift restrictions on diesel exports ahead of schedule.”