President Donald Trump on Friday announced a three-person committee to investigate mortgage fraud allegations against Lisa Cook. The notice appeared on the White House website after prior court rulings let Cook stay on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors while the dispute continued.
Trump said in the notice that, “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.” The statement followed his earlier effort to remove Cook and set up another review of the same allegations.
White House notice on Friday
The Friday notice came just over two months after Dan Scavino told Cook on Aug. 5 that Trump was considering whether to remove her from the Board of Governors. Scavino gave her 21 days to respond to the White House's mortgage fraud allegations.
Trump had alleged that Cook committed mortgage fraud in 2021 by listing a condo in Georgia and a house in Michigan as her primary residence on mortgage applications. Cook began serving on the Federal Reserve in 2022, and Joe Biden nominated her to a full 14-year term in 2023.
Cook the Federal Reserve
The dispute has stayed in court while Cook remains in office. On June 29, by a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court allowed her to remain in office while her challenge continued, and the case is set for argument in January 2026. A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit left a U.S. District Court order in place while the challenge continued.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb said Cook was substantially likely to show that Trump violated federal law when he fired her. Cobb said the law allowing the president to fire a Federal Reserve governor for cause does not extend to conduct before she took office, and she also said the firing violated Cook's constitutional right to fair treatment because she did not have notice and an opportunity to contest it before it happened.
Abbe Lowell and the challenge
On Aug. 27, Abbe Lowell told Trump the allegations were “unfounded and untrue” and said any effort to fire Cook based on them would be “corrosive of the independence that Congress sought to preserve” for the Federal Reserve Bank. The latest committee announcement keeps the fight centered on a sitting Fed governor while the courts have twice let her stay in place. For readers tracking the case, the immediate issue is not Cook's removal but who on the committee will be doing the review and what standard they will apply.
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