President Trump Establishes Committee of Inquiry on Grounds for Removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook…Closed White House Hearing on November 5
President Donald Trump has set up a White House committee to determine whether there are legal grounds to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, the White House said in a presidential memorandum dated Oct. 7. The committee will hold a closed, in-person hearing at the White House on Nov. 5, lasting no more than four hours, and recommend to the president whether there is "cause" for removal.
The memorandum, titled "Establishment of a Committee of Inquiry to Investigate Allegations of False Statements by Lisa Denell Cook," directs the committee to investigate allegations that Cook made false statements in connection with one or more mortgage instruments. They remain allegations in the memorandum, not facts determined by a court or the committee.
The three members are the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). The Attorney General and the Counsel to the President are also listed as addressees. The committee may consult personnel from executive departments and agencies, including the Justice Department.
In the memorandum, Trump said it is his job as president to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, including by removing subordinates who cannot be trusted to tell the truth and follow the law, and cited Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution. He cited 12 U.S.C. 242, which governs the terms and removal of Fed governors, and the Supreme Court's 2026 decision in Trump v. Cook, 146 S. Ct. 2234, interpreting that provision, as the standard for cause.
The White House rapid-response account @RapidResponse47 first announced the memorandum on Oct. 9 Eastern Time, with a link to the full text.
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2108556494920974457
Neither the official White House account @WhiteHouse nor the Federal Reserve's @federalreserve posted about the memorandum or the Nov. 5 hearing. The committee released no separate explanation ahead of the hearing. The public record so far is limited to the subject, schedule and membership set out in the memorandum, and the evidence under review has not been made public.
The process begins on paper. The committee will provide the evidence under review to Cook in advance. Cook may submit a written statement of position, provided it arrives at least three days before the hearing — by Nov. 2, calculated from the Nov. 5 date in the memorandum.
At the Nov. 5 hearing, Cook will appear in person behind closed doors and answer questions from the committee and its designees, as well as from her own counsel, if she has one. A transcript will be kept. Cook may present arguments, documentary evidence and written witness statements, and the committee may assign questioning to designees, including Justice Department personnel.
Cook may submit a further written statement by Nov. 10 after the hearing. The committee must then submit its findings of fact and legal conclusions to the president in writing "as soon as practicable" and recommend whether there is cause to remove her from the Board of Governors.
The committee may add procedures or reasonably change them, but it must give Cook sufficient advance notice. The Counsel to the President will deliver a copy of the memorandum to Cook, the committee members and the Attorney General, and the Attorney General will publish it in the Federal Register.
The memorandum does not spell out the underlying allegations, which loan documents contained which statements or the names of the three committee members, listing only their titles. It sets no firm date for the recommendation beyond "as soon as practicable" after the Nov. 10 submission. The recommendation goes to the president, who decides on removal. Fed governors serve 14-year terms, and federal law allows the president to remove a governor for cause.
It is the second removal effort involving Cook. The Associated Press reported that Trump first tried to remove Cook in August 2025 and that the Supreme Court allowed her to remain in office while the litigation continued. AP reported that the court said in a footnote, in effect, that the administration could try again if it provided sufficient notice and an opportunity to be heard. That decision, Trump v. Cook, is the one the memorandum cites. The memorandum does not describe the decision's contents.
Cook's side has challenged the schedule first. AP, ABC News and The Wall Street Journal reported that Cook's attorney, Abbe Lowell, wrote to White House Counsel William Scharf on Oct. 13 Eastern Time saying Cook cannot attend on Nov. 5 because she will be "performing official duties as a governor at a financial and monetary policy conference in Europe." Lowell proposed Dec. 8-9, after the Fed's monetary policy meeting, as the earliest possible dates, according to the reports.
Lowell also raised questions about the fairness of the committee's composition, according to the reports, while the letter said Cook "welcomes the opportunity to present the facts and clear her name," leaving open the prospect she would appear. The letter itself has not been released on the White House or Federal Reserve websites, and the White House has issued no official response to it.
Cook took office as a Fed governor on May 23, 2022, filling a term that ended Jan. 31, 2024, according to the Fed's official biography. She was renominated on Sept. 8, 2023, and took the oath on Sept. 13 of that month, extending her term to Jan. 31, 2038.
Before joining the Fed, Cook taught economics and international relations at Michigan State University, directed the American Economic Association's summer training program from 2018 to 2021 and was a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Fed said. She previously taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School, served as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration from 2011 to 2012 and was a senior adviser for finance and development in the Treasury Department's international affairs office from 2000 to 2001. She earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Spelman College, a bachelor's degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, according to the Fed. The biography is an official record of her career, separate from the loan-document allegations before the committee.
The Fed's Board has seven governors nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, the Fed says. Terms run 14 years and are staggered so one seat begins on Feb. 1 of even-numbered years. A governor who has served a full term cannot be renominated, but one who filled an unexpired term may be renominated for a 14-year term. Governors cannot be removed over policy views, and the Fed says the long, staggered terms help insulate the Board and the Fed from day-to-day political pressure. The memorandum does not target Cook's policy views; it turns on the loan-document allegations and whether they amount to statutory cause.
The dispute dates to August 2025. According to the Supreme Court's opinion and docket, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte posted a letter to the Attorney General on social media on Aug. 20, 2025, saying Cook appeared to have falsified bank documents and property records in 2021 by claiming two homes at once as her primary residence to obtain more favorable loan terms. It was a claim in a letter quoted in the opinion, not a finding by the court on the underlying loan facts.
Trump then told reporters he would remove Cook if she did not resign. In an Aug. 25 letter to Cook, according to the opinion, he said he saw reason to believe she had made false statements in one or more mortgage agreements and that immediate removal was necessary to faithfully execute the law because he had no confidence in her integrity. Cook sued, arguing the removal was not for statutory cause and that she had received no notice or opportunity to respond before it.
The Supreme Court received the application on Sept. 18, 2025, deferred a decision on Oct. 1, 2025, until argument in January 2026, heard argument on Jan. 21, 2026, and denied the government's stay application on June 29, 2026.
The court held on narrow grounds that the president had not given Cook the procedural protections guaranteed by law and that, without them, she could not properly contest the claims against her. Cook was entitled at a minimum to an explanation of the evidence at issue, a channel to respond and a deadline to do so, with a final decision only after that opportunity, the court said. The court did not separately address the constitutional due-process claim, saying the procedural ruling was sufficient. The decision concerned the stay application in the earlier removal attempt and did not directly rule on the Oct. 7 memorandum's new committee or the legal effect of its recommendation.
The next dates in the memorandum are Nov. 2 for Cook's written statement, Nov. 5 for the closed White House hearing and Nov. 10 for a post-hearing submission. Because the hearing is closed, the committee's written recommendation to the president and any presidential decision are likely to be what becomes public. With Cook's side seeking a delay, whether the committee revises its schedule is the first question to be settled.