Photo: Federal Reserve
The White House’s fight to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve is getting a later hearing date, not a resolution.
A committee appointed by President Donald Trump has moved its planned hearing from Thursday, November 5, to Monday, December 14, CNBC reported Wednesday evening, citing a White House official. Cook’s attendance has not been confirmed.
The panel is investigating allegations that Cook made false statements connected to mortgage applications. She denies wrongdoing. The new date does not remove her from the Fed or settle those allegations.
For borrowers, savers and investors, the issue is who gets to make decisions at the central bank that sets U.S. interest-rate policy. This delay extends the fight over the Fed’s independence; it does not change interest rates or announce a change in anyone’s mortgage payment.
A date is not an agreement to appear
The White House official told CNBC that the postponement came at Cook’s request. Her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, had said questions about the panel’s fairness and objectivity needed answers before a hearing could go ahead.
Reuters, citing the New York Times, also reported the December 14 date. It said Lowell had told the White House that Cook was unavailable for the original November 5 hearing and could not attend until after the Fed’s December 8-9 policy meeting.
Trump adviser Kevin Hassett, a member of the three-person committee, said last week that Cook’s lawyers had agreed to a December date, according to Reuters. That does not establish that she has agreed to attend this particular hearing. Both reports said her lawyer had not provided a fresh response to their requests for comment.
The firing fight remains open
Trump first tried to dismiss Cook in August 2025. She challenged that effort in court and argued that the mortgage allegations were a pretext to remove her because she would not support his demands for lower interest rates, CNBC reported.
In June, the Supreme Court left in place a lower-court order protecting her from removal while the case proceeds. CNBC reported that the justices found she had not been given due process in the first attempt to fire her; they did not decide whether a president ultimately has the power to remove a Fed governor in these circumstances.
Trump established the inquiry committee in October. Its job is to hold a hearing and recommend whether Cook should be fired, Reuters reported. That process, Cook’s objections to it and the separate court fight remain distinct from the Fed’s decisions on interest rates.
Cook remains listed as a governor on the Federal Reserve’s official website. For now, the confirmed change is the hearing calendar, not the composition of the Fed’s board.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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