President Donald Trump renewed his push Wednesday to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
At the same time, Trump also encouraged the Justice Department to continue its probe into the central bank chief.
Two deputies from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia paid an unannounced visit Tuesday to the construction site of the Fed’s renovation. The project’s $2.5 billion bill – and Powell’s testimony about it to lawmakers – fueled calls for the Fed chief’s ouster from some members of Trump’s administration last year, followed by the DOJ investigation.
The probe is continuing even though a federal judge quashed the DOJ’s subpoenas into Powell, claiming they were based on Trump's desire to replace the Fed chair with someone who will lower interest rates.
Past Fed chairs and Treasury secretaries warned that removing Powell would end central bank independence in the U.S.
Powell, whose term as Fed chair is set to end in May, said he would lead the central bank pro tempore if a successor is not confirmed by that time.
“I’ll have to fire him … if he’s not leaving on time,” Trump told Fox Business in a Wednesday interview. “I’ve held back, firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him. But I hate to be controversial.”
The Senate Banking Committee has set an April 21 hearing for former Fed Gov. Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to succeed Powell. But one Republican on the committee, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, has long said he will not support any Fed nominee until the Powell probe is closed.
Tillis has said Warsh “possesses impeccable credentials and a clear vision for maintaining the Fed’s independence” but castigated the DOJ, saying it “should save itself further embarrassment and move on” from the Powell investigation.
The senator doubled down on that Tuesday, posting a still frame of the Three Stooges on X with the caption, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. at the crime scene.”
Asked about Tillis’ resistance, Trump said Wednesday: “Thom Tillis is an American. He knows what to do. … Let’s see what happens.”
Later in the interview, however, Trump noted that Tillis has declined to run for reelection.
“He quit, but I don’t think he wants the legacy of stopping a great person [Warsh]” from serving as Fed chair, Trump said. “He doesn’t want the legacy of having an incompetent guy stay there for longer than is necessary.”
The president labeled Powell incompetent several times during Wednesday’s interview.
“It’s more than a criminal probe,” Trump said of the Powell investigation. “It’s a probe on incompetence. … It’s probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetent. And we have to show the incompetence of that. And [Powell] headed the job.”
Trump drilled down, insisting that the probe run its course.
“[Should] we stop a probe of a building that I would have done for $25 million, that’s going to cost maybe $4 billion? Don’t you think we have to find out what happened there?” he said. “Whether it’s incompetence, corruption or both, I think we have to find out.”
