Trump-Powell Clash: What It Takes to Dismiss a Fed Chair

President Donald Trump said he is “not planning on doing anything” to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, after floating the idea in a closed-door meeting with congressional Republicans that leaked to the media.

“No, we’re not planning on doing anything,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday when asked if he wanted to fire Powell.

A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity earlier Wednesday, said they expected Trump to move soon against the Fed chief. That was also the impression of some lawmakers following a Tuesday evening meeting, where Trump polled them on the possibility of moving against Powell.

But in public, Trump looked to downplay the possibility, suggesting he was content to wait until the end of Powell’s term in May 2026. Yet when asked if he was completely ruling out the idea of firing Powell, Trump said that while “it’s highly unlikely,” he could still see removing the Fed chair for “fraud.”

In recent days, Trump and his allies have lambasted Powell over renovations at the Fed’s Washington headquarters, arguing that the work has been plagued by cost overruns and is exorbitantly lavish for a government office building.

Ousting Powell before his term as chair ends would likely roil financial markets and lead to a consequential legal showdown.

Stocks, the dollar and short-dated yields pared declines after Trump’s comments. He repeated that Powell has been “too late” on lowering interest rates.

A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar pared Wednesday’s loss, but still traded about 0.2% lower on the session after Trump denied reports he intends to fire Powell. Stocks and short-dated yields also reduced some declines.

Trump discussed the possible move in a meeting with GOP lawmakers at the White House to discuss cryptocurrency legislation. The president said “almost every one of them” supported the idea of removing the central bank chief, but denied that he drafted and displayed a letter authorizing Powell’s firing.

Two individuals familiar with the meeting said Trump did display such a document.

Powell has called media reports about the renovations inaccurate. Earlier this week, he made a formal request for the bank’s inspector general to review the renovation.

Powell has also maintained that a president has no legal authority to fire or demote those in leadership positions at the Fed. In April he said, “we’re not removable except for cause.”

That was a reference to Section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act, the law that governs the central bank, which says members of the Fed’s Board of Governors, of which the chair is one, can be “removed for cause.”

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