Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gave a clear and candid response to a question at Thursday's press conference about whether he would resign if President-elect Donald Trump asked him to do so.
Powell, whose term as chairman ends in 2026, said “no.”
When asked for details and whether he could legally be asked to leave, he again answered “no.”
Powell later said that “the law does not allow the president to remove or demote him or any other Fed director in a leadership position.”
Mr. Trump appointed Mr. Powell during his first term in 2017, but during his term he repeatedly publicly criticized the Fed and its chairman for not cutting interest rates fast enough.
Powell also said in 2019 that he would not resign if President Trump asked him to. President Biden reappointed Powell as chairman in 2021 over the objections of progressives who criticized him for burdening average Americans by keeping interest rates too high for too long. .
Trump suggested earlier this year that Powell, a lifelong Republican, was being “political” and could cut rates ahead of the 2024 election to help Democrats. The Fed cut interest rates by a whopping 50 basis points in September, but President Trump handily defeated Vice President Harris this week.
The Federal Reserve is a politically independent institution and fiercely protects its reputation. But Trump suggested in August that because he “makes so much money,” he should “at least have a say” in monetary policy, including interest rates.
Trump later recanted his remarks in an interview with Bloomberg.
“I think it's good for the president to talk. It doesn't mean they have to listen,” Trump said.
“The president can certainly talk about interest rates, because I think he has very good instincts,” he said. “That doesn't mean I have the power to decide, but it does mean I should have the same right to be able to talk about it as anyone else.”
Trump also said over the summer that he intended to let Powell serve out his term, “especially if I think he's doing the right thing,” but that he would not reappoint him for another term.
