Trump forms panel to investigate Fed’s Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud claims

President Donald Trump has established a White House committee to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations, a renewed attempt to remove her from the central bank “for cause.” The move, laid out in a presidential memorandum posted on the White House website, escalates a months-long effort to challenge Cook’s continued service on the Fed Board of Governors and tests the limits of the president’s power over an institution designed by Congress to be structurally independent. “As President, it is my job to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, including by firing subordinates who cannot be trusted to tell the truth and follow the law,” Trump wrote in the memo, according to the White House posting. The committee is composed of the assistant to the president for economic policy, the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the director of the Office of Government Ethics. Its mandate is to investigate whether Cook “made false statements in connection with one or more mortgage instruments,” conduct that the memo says could justify removing her “for cause.” The White House memo says the panel will consult with other executive branch...