Ahead of President Donald Trump’s tense visit to the Federal Reserve’s office building where he clashed with chairman Jerome Powell, the fed chair’s biggest Democratic critic warned that Trump is looking for an excuse to fire him.
And she is not OK with that.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, warned that Trump might remove Powell before his term expires.
“I’m worried about President Trump trying to find a pretext to fire Jerome Powell,” Warren told The Independent as the Senate finished votes for the week on Thursday.
Around that time, Trump was visiting the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building. In recent weeks, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Kevin Hassett, Trump’s chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, have criticized Powell for running over budget for rennovations for the building.
The president cannot fire the Federal Reserve chairman, whose term expires in May, without cause. But some fear that Trump might use the renovations as that cause to fire Powell.
In a rather remarkable exchange, Trump told reporters, with Powell by his side, that the cost of the renovations was about $3.1 billion, which Powell corrected in real time.
When Powell saw the costs Trump presented, Powell said that the president had included the cost of another renovation.
“You just added in a third building,” Powell said. “It was built five years ago.”
Trump has ramped up his criticism of Powell in recent months because Powell has refused to lower interest rates, calling Powell “a stupid person.”
Powell has taken a wait-and-see approach to the effects of the global reciprocal tariffs on the larger financial market, saying that they will spike inflation and slow economic growth.
After Trump’s meeting with Powell, he reiterated his desire for Powell to lower rates after visiting.
“Our country is booming, and the interest rate is a final little notch,” he told reporters. But Trump stopped short of saying that he wanted to sack Powell.
“I would love to see it completed, I don’t want to put that in this category,” he said.
