Lisa Cook’s lawyer questions Trump committee as president criticizes Fed government

A lawyer for Lisa Cook has expressed serious doubts about the fairness and objectivity of President Donald Trump’s committee investigating mortgage fraud allegations against the Federal Reserve governor.

Attorney Abbe Lowell said the committee was plagued by problems that undermine the Fed’s appearance of independence, including “clearly biased members” and “additional, unspecified allegations” against Cook.

These and other questions “should be resolved before a hearing can be held” in the investigation, Lowell wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Will Scharf, Trump’s aide and lawyer.

No such hearing could take place until at least December, weeks later than originally scheduled, Lowell insisted.

The letter came three days after Trump called Cook “dishonest” and complained that she was an “automatic no” — apparently referring to her opposition to cutting interest rates, which the president strongly desires.

Cook last voted in favor of a rate cut in December 2025, siding with the majority. The Fed unanimously voted to raise rates after its last meeting in September.

“She should not be in a position of importance,” Trump said of Cook in these remarks to reporters after returning from a rally in Tennessee on Saturday.

White House spokesman Matthew Middleton said in response to Lowell’s letter that Trump is “discharging his constitutional duty in evaluating Lisa Cook’s conduct and her eligibility to continue serving as governor of the Federal Reserve.”

“The Constitution charges the President to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed and that the conduct of the members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve is above reproach,” Middleton said in a statement.

An in-person hearing at the White House is currently scheduled for November 5, according to Trump’s October 7 presidential memo establishing the “commission of inquiry” into Cook.

Cook’s lawyers did not immediately rule out participating in that hearing, and in fact said the Fed governor “welcomes the opportunity to present the facts so she can clear her name,” despite their concerns.

But in Tuesday’s letter, Lowell said Cook would not be able to attend a Nov. 5 hearing because she would be “carrying out her official duties as governor at financial and monetary policy meetings in Europe.”

After that, Cook will immediately begin preparing for the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting in early December, Lowell said.

The White House did not immediately respond when asked by CNBC whether the planned hearing would be moved in light of Cook’s alleged scheduling conflicts.

Lowell also said he needed time to speak with Cook about issues raised by the most recent White House correspondence, as well as to prepare her for any possible hearing, “which, due to her being in Asia for her Federal Reserve duties, cannot take place until she returns.”

“With all of this (and the court hearings I have scheduled for November), the earliest date for a hearing should be in December, after the FOMC meeting,” Lowell wrote to Scharf.

Trump created the three-member committee two months after reviving his long-running effort to fire Cook, appointed by former President Joe Biden, from the central bank’s board of governors.

In late June, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s first attempt to impeach Cook, ruling that she had not been given sufficient due process under federal law. But that decision didn’t stop Trump from trying again.

Middleton said in his statement: “The President is going above and beyond what the Supreme Court has required by providing Lisa Cook with an in-person hearing that will take place in a fair and open process.”

But Lowell wrote Tuesday, “We have significant concerns about the objectivity and fitness of the committee,” which includes three executive branch officials, including Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett.

Hassett “has already publicly insinuated that the president had ‘reason’ to fire Governor Cook,” Lowell noted, citing the economic adviser’s August 2025 comments.

Hassett, in those remarks, also accused Cook of “taking a partisan position contrary to the independence of the Fed” by refusing to step down while a Justice Department investigation unfolded into the mortgage fraud allegations, which Cook denies.

The comments suggest Hassett has already prejudged the case, Lowell told Scharf, “surely belying your assertion that the ‘hearing’ as proposed would be ‘substantial and fair.’

“A hearing with blatantly biased members, unspecified additional allegations, and an unclear timeline for the release of any additional evidence – without any explanation as to why it was not previously produced – is not a process that respects the appearance or history of independence,” Lowell wrote.