Trump Opens a Second Front on Lisa Cook: A White House 'Committee of Inquiry' — Now Called "Demonstrably Biased" by Her Lawyers
UPDATE (Oct. 14, 2026): Cook's lawyers have answered the Nov. 5 hearing summons — calling the committee "demonstrably biased" and saying she can't attend anyway. In a Tuesday letter to William Scharf, a counsel to President Trump, attorney Abbe Lowell wrote that Cook "will be executing her official duties as Governor at financial and monetary policy meetings in Europe" on Nov. 5, making the earliest possible appearance after the Fed's Dec. 8–9 policy meeting.
The letter's core attack on the process — the mechanism the White House built to satisfy the Supreme Court's footnote that Trump could re-attempt removal with "adequate notice and an opportunity to respond":
"A hearing with demonstrably biased members, unspecified additional allegations, and an unclear schedule for the disclosure of any additional evidence – with no explanation for why it was not previously produced – is not a process that respects the appearance or history of independence."
The bias evidence is the committee's own composition and conduct: member Kevin Hassett, a top Trump economic adviser, has already said the president has "cause" to fire Cook — the very question the committee is supposed to recommend on. The other two members (Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and EEOC chair Andrea Rich) are also Trump appointees. Lowell: "we have significant concerns regarding the objectivity and fitness of the committee for its assigned purpose." Notably, Lowell did not close the door on Cook appearing eventually.
Context that makes this the live test of Fed independence: no president has ever fired a Fed governor; Trump first tried in August 2025; the Supreme Court let her stay while litigation continues while suggesting a redo with process was possible; no criminal charges have been filed over the 2021 mortgage-fraud accusation, which Cook denies. The committee of inquiry (created by Trump's Oct. 9 memo) is that redo — and its recommend-or-not-findings on "cause" are the designed predicate for a second removal letter.
What to watch: whether the White House treats non-appearance on Nov. 5 as defiance or accepts the December counteroffer; whether the committee proceeds to a "cause" finding without her; and whether any removal letter lands before or after the Dec. 8–9 FOMC. Each path either normalizes a White House-run process for removing a Fed governor or forces the removal fight back into court on the process record.