Trump Revives Threat To Fire Jerome Powell Leaving Rocky Path for Replacement

President Trump created new uncertainty about the future leadership of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, saying he will fire the Fed’s chairman, Jerome Powell, if he does not leave the Board of Governors when his term as chairman ends on May 15.“Well, then I’ll have to fire him, okay?” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Powell in an interview that aired Wednesday on Fox Business. “If he’s not leaving on time. I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him but I hate to be controversial.”The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, which is charged with either advancing or rejecting nominees for positions at the Federal Reserve, has a hearing scheduled for April 21 on the nomination of Kevin Warsh to become the next Fed chairman. The hearing was scheduled after Mr. Warsh turned in required financial disclosures this week that estimated his fortune at $131 million.Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is not running for reelection, has repeatedly said he thinks Mr. Warsh is a good pick but he will not support advancing the nomination before the Justice Department finishes its probe into Mr. Powell. With the committee divided between 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats, any one GOP member can effectively kill a nominee by voting with all members of the minority party.Mr. Powell announced in a January video that he had been served grand jury subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into over-budget renovations at the Fed’s Washington headquarters. The probe is also looking into whether Mr. Powell lied about the project during Congressional testimony.In March, Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge of the district court for Washington, D.C., blocked subpoenas that United States Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office had served on the Fed. Judge Boasberg, who has tangled with administration lawyers on several cases, said the subpoenas were issued to pressure Mr. Powell to lower interest rates. Mr. Trump has repeatedly lobbed criticism at Mr. Powell and the Fed for not lowering rates fast enough. An attempt to revive the subpoenas also failed.Prosecutors from Ms. Pirro’s office made a surprise visit to the Federal Reserve on Tuesday to try to tour the project, a signal that the probe is continuing. The prosecutors were turned away and told they could not access the site without preclearance, the Wall Street Journal reported.“Any construction project that has cost overruns of almost 80% over the original construction budget deserves some serious review,” Ms. Pirro said in an X post after the incident. “And these people are in charge of monetary policy in the United States?”Mr. Tillis later posted an image of the Three Stooges comedy trio on X with the caption, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. at the crime scene.”While Mr. Powell’s term as Fed chairman ends in May, he has the option to remain as a voting member of the board until 2028. Mr. Powell has indicated that he will not leave the position while the probe is ongoing.Any attempt by Mr. Trump to fire Mr. Powell would likely face a court challenge. The Supreme Court has given Mr. Trump broad authority to fire other federal appointees but has cautioned that the Fed is unique.The Nine have already heard a case involving the removal of another Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, who is challenging her firing. Ms. Cook argues her removal was for political reasons and not “for cause” as required. A decision in Ms. Cook’s case could come as early as Friday.

Trump Revives Threat To Fire Jerome Powell Leaving Rocky Path for Replacement

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