10 months ago
15
Less than a day after telling a group of House Republicans that he planned to sack the head of America’s independent central bank after months of grousing over interest rates he says are too high, President Donald Trump appeared to back down from the unprecedented move, telling reporters on Wednesday it was “highly unlikely” that he would upend nearly a century of precedent by attempting to sack Federal Reserve Board of Governors Chair Jerome Powell.
Speaking in the Oval Office during a media availability alongside the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, Trump was asked whether he was considering attempting to remove Powell from his position, a move that would potentially trigger months of litigation and spook financial markets.
He replied with a derisive stemwinding set of remarks in which he assailed Powell for not pushing the central bank’s board to cut interest rates, citing the European Central Bank’s multiple rate cuts in recent months, and accusing Powell of only having assented to cuts during last year’s election to benefit the Democratic candidate, former vice president Kamala Harris.
“The only time he cut him was just before the election to try and help Kamala or Biden, whoever the hell it was, because nobody really knew ... I think he does a terrible job. He's costing us a lot of money,” Trump said.
But the president added later that he isn’t planning to fire Powell.
“No, we're not planning on doing anything,” he said. “So he's doing a lousy job. But no, I'm not talking about that. We get, fortunately, we get to make a change in the next, what, eight months or so, and we'll pick somebody that's good.”
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