Oct 30 (Reuters) – 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 advisor said, though lawyers for Cook on Friday declined to confirm that any date had been agreed.
“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,” Kevin Hassett told Bloomberg TV on Thursday. “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.”
Cook’s lawyer, who along with Cook herself has denied any wrongdoing and called Trump’s accusations a pretense to remove her because he wants the Fed to cut rates, had previously said Cook would not be available for any hearing until after the Fed’s December 8-9 policy-setting meeting. A spokeswoman for her lawyer did not confirm any new date in December.
Trump has been trying to fire Cook for more than a year.
The Supreme Court in June ruled that he cannot do so “at will” but that he may be able to if he gives her a chance to defend herself against any evidence he believes shows “cause” for removal. Trump announced a fresh investigation last month and initially set November 5 as a hearing date.
Cook this week dissented on the Fed’s decision to leave rates steady instead of delivering another rate hike to curb inflation, as she would have preferred. The Fed is widely expected to raise rates again in December. Trump has long railed against the Fed for not cutting rates, and accused a “political” Fed Board, which includes Cook, for keeping Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh from doing so.
Hassett, who is on the three-person committee Trump appointed to investigate Cook and recommend if she should be fired, had called Cook “partisan” last August for not vacating her post after Trump’s allegations.
On Thursday he told Bloomberg TV Thursday he feels “Chairman Warsh has done a good job of allowing, you know, normal dissent and then driving a consensus.”
The White House committee looking into Cook is comprised of “people of honor who are charged with looking at the evidence and correctly characterizing it in a way that people will be able to observe and criticize if they like,” he said.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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