Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook’s lawyers say that a committee set up by the White House last week to investigate an accusation against her is “demonstrably biased,” though they did not rule out the possibility that she would appear before the panel.

Lawyer Abbe Lowell also said in a letter Tuesday that Cook would not be able to participate in a hearing Nov. 5 because she “will be executing her official duties as Governor at financial and monetary policy meetings in Europe.”

The earliest that Cook could appear before a “committee of inquiry” that the White House set up last Friday would be after the Fed’s policy meeting Dec. 8-9, the letter said. The letter was sent to William Scharf, a counsel to President Donald Trump.

Lowell’s comments are the latest turn in the Trump administration’s extended efforts to fire Cook from her position as one of seven members of the Fed’s board of governors. Trump has accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud in 2021, before she joined the board, a claim she has denied. No criminal charges have been filed.

Cook was appointed by former President Joe Biden and is the first Black woman on the Fed’s board.

Trump first tried to fire Cook in August 2025, but the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year she could remain in her position while litigation continued. The court also suggested, in a footnote to the ruling, that Trump could try again to fire her if the administration provided her adequate notice and an opportunity to respond. The committee of inquiry announced by the White House last Friday is an effort to meet those conditions.

Under the law governing the Fed, the president can only fire a Fed governor “for cause,” but the Supreme Court didn’t address whether Cook’s actions met that standard. The committee of inquiry will ultimately recommend whether there is cause to fire Cook, a White House memo last week said.

Lowell also said in the Tuesday letter that “we have significant concerns regarding the objectivity and fitness of the committee for its assigned purpose.”

One of its three members, Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to Trump, has already said the president has “cause” to fire Cook, the letter noted. The other two members — Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Andrea Rich — are also Trump appointees.

“A hearing with demonstrably biased members, unspecified additional allegations, and an unclear schedule for the disclosure of any additional evidence – with no explanation for why it was not previously produced – is not a process that respects the appearance or history of independence,” Lowell’s letter said.

A White House spokesperson, Matthew Middleton, said in a statement that Trump was “performing his constitutional duty in evaluating Lisa Cook’s conduct and eligibility to continue serving as a governor on the Federal Reserve.”

“The Constitution charges the president with ensuring that the laws are faithfully executed and that the conduct of members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is above reproach,” he said.

Media

Netflix to lay off 1,000 in slowdown

Netflix announced Wednesday morning that it was laying off roughly 6% of its workforce, or about 1,000 employees, as the company confronts slowing growth.

Most of the affected employees worked for the product, technology, legal and human resources teams, the company’s co-chief executives told employees in a memo.

Still, Netflix’s share price is down more than 40% over the last year as the company has struggled with stalling engagement.

Finance

IMF urges nations to reduce debt levels

The U.S. and other wealthy nations need to urgently tackle mounting global debt levels that are weighing most heavily on low-income countries and straining the global financial system, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other U.S. leaders recognize that the federal deficit and national debt are too high. But economic growth alone would not be enough to address the country’s more than $40 trillion in national debt, she said.

Meanwhile, rising bond yields, reflecting higher premiums demanded by investors for taking on greater risk, have been disrupting financial markets.

“We believe that growth, of course, helps, but it cannot deliver fast enough the necessary adjustments,” Georgieva said at the autumn meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Bangkok.

“There is no magic,” she said, adding that other measures would be needed. “You have to go in a direction of tightening, bringing it down, bringing the deficit down.”

Trade

China’s exports, trade surplus surge

China’s exports surged 36.3% in September from a year earlier, its customs agency said Wednesday, putting the country on track to surpass last year’s record trade surplus even as pressure mounts from trading partners, including the European Union, to rebalance trade.

The increase beat economists’ expectations and was stronger than the 25% year-on-year growth in August.

Imports climbed 31% in September year-on-year, also accelerating from August’s 28.2% rise. Still, China recorded a $133.5 billion trade surplus last month, widening from $119.1 billion in August.

For the first nine months, China’s trade surplus reached $938.1 billion, with expectations growing that it could surpass last year’s full-year $1.2 trillion record.

— From news services