White House Delays Fed Governor Lisa Cook Hearing to December, Hassett Says

The White House has delayed until December a planned hearing into allegations of mortgage fraud by Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Kevin Hassett told Bloomberg TV on Thursday, according to Reuters. Trump had announced a fresh investigation last month and initially set November 5 as the hearing date.

"The president has asked a small set of his people to run a completely fair process that puts all the information on the table, and then the president will decide next steps," Hassett said. "We in the White House, the White House counsel, has worked very closely with Governor Cook's people. I think that they've agreed to a date in December to meet together and talk these things through." A spokeswoman for Cook's lawyer did not confirm any new date in December, Reuters reported.

Cook and her lawyer have denied any wrongdoing and called Trump's accusations a pretext to remove her because he wants the Fed to cut rates. Her side had previously said she would not be available for any hearing until after the Fed's December 8-9 policy-setting meeting. Trump has been trying to fire Cook for more than a year; the Supreme Court ruled in June that he cannot do so "at will," but that he may be able to if he gives her a chance to defend herself against evidence he believes shows "cause" for removal.

The delay lands in the middle of a live rate fight. Cook this week dissented from the Fed's decision to leave rates steady, preferring another rate hike to curb inflation, and the Fed is widely expected to raise rates again in December. Trump has long railed against the Fed for not cutting rates and has accused a "political" Fed board, including Cook, of keeping Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh from doing so. Hassett, who sits on the three-person committee Trump appointed to investigate Cook and recommend whether she should be fired, called the committee "people of honor who are charged with looking at the evidence and correctly characterizing it."