President Trump has threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell if he remains at the central bank after his leadership term ends on May 15.
Powell still has two years to serve as a member of the Fed’s board of governor, and under Fed rules he can continue serving as chairman pro tempore until a successor is named. During a Fox Business interview, Trump threatened to remove Powell from the central bank if he stays past May 15.
“Well then, I’ll have to fire him, okay, if he’s not leaving on time,” Trump said. “I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial.”
Trump nominated former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh as Powell’s successor. But Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has threatened to block that nomination unless the Department of Justice (DOJ) drops its attempts to investigate Powell and the central bank for potential criminal actions connected to cost overruns on the Fed’s headquarters. Powell stated he would not leave the Fed while he was still the subject of the DOJ’s attention.
A federal judge blocked the DOJ’s efforts to issue subpoenas against Powell and the Fed. Trump stated the investigation would continue.
“What they’ve done to that so it is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetent, and we have to show the incompetence of that,” he said.
Last year, Trump attempted to fire Fed Gov. Lisa Cook after she was accused of mortgage fraud by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. No criminal charges have been brought against Cook, and the US Supreme Court is considering whether Trump’s actions were constitutional.
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