Trump Opens Formal White House Inquiry Into Fed Governor Lisa Cook Over Mortgage Fraud Claims

The Trump White House has formed a formal 'committee of inquiry' to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook on unproven allegations that she committed mortgage fraud, with a hearing scheduled for November 5 where Cook has been called to appear in person. The move represents a significant escalation in a prolonged effort to remove Cook from the Fed — a position she technically holds until 2038.

The fraud allegations center on a 2021 condo purchase in Atlanta, where Cook listed the property as a 'primary' residence in at least one document despite also maintaining a primary home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Cook's lawyers have called the designation an 'inadvertent oversight' rather than fraud, pointing out that other documents correctly identified the Atlanta property as a vacation home. Cook has not been charged with any crime. Her legal team also went on offense, noting that Trump and his advisers have made similar mortgage document errors.

The White House inquiry comes just four months after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Cook could not be removed without adequate due process — a procedural victory the Trump administration immediately reframed as merely a temporary setback. The justices left unresolved the critical legal question of what actually constitutes 'cause' for firing a Fed governor, a gap the White House appears to be trying to exploit. The administration had previously announced Cook's removal in August 2025 before the court intervened, and restarted the removal process again in August 2026, charging she was 'unfit for office.'

Cook is not the only Fed official caught in Trump's crosshairs. Former chair Jerome Powell faced a Justice Department criminal investigation over a nearly $2.5 billion headquarters renovation project — a probe that was dropped after legal setbacks and Republican Senate opposition. The Fed's inspector general last month cleared Powell of wrongdoing, though it found the project was poorly managed. Powell, unusually, opted to stay on as a Fed governor rather than depart after his chairmanship ended in May, with his governor term running to January 2028. Kevin Warsh eventually took over as chair. Trump has continued to demand Powell resign in the wake of the IG report.