President Donald Trump on Thursday leaned further into his conflict with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying the central bank leader would be “out of there” if he asked him to leave.
“Oh, he’ll leave. If I ask him to, he’ll be out of there. But I don’t think he’s doing the job. He’s too late, always too late, a little slow and I’m not happy with him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I let him know it, and if I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me.”
Whether Trump could remove Powell is an ongoing question. In the coming months, the Supreme Court will decide if Trump was legally able to fire members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protections Board, but ramifications could be wider. If SCOTUS decides those firings were lawful, some legal scholars say the executive branch would then assert control over the Federal Reserve.
Powell said last November that he wouldn’t resign if Trump asked.
Trump has criticized Powell repeatedly over the past month, including Thursday morning before the press conference. “The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!’,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referencing an anticipated rate cut from the European Central Bank.
“Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” he wrote.
That post came after Powell said Wednesday that the Fed was positioned to wait before adjusting its policy, a reiteration of similar comments he made earlier this month.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants a rate cut, posting on Truth Social in early April, “CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!” Trump also said in late March he’d “like to see the Fed lower interest rates.”
But Powell has not only so far stood firm, he’s pointed explicitly to tariffs as potentially increasing inflation and unemployment, including in his first comments after the president paused many of them.
It’s earning him increasing ire from Trump. Asked about rising prices, Trump said prices were dropping, and then pivoted to criticizing Powell.
“The only thing that’s gone up, actually, is interest rates because we have a Federal Reserve chairman that is playing politics, somebody that I’ve never been very fond of, actually,” Trump said. “That’s the only thing, but that’s because of the Federal Reserve, because they’re not very smart people.”
Trump’s ire against Powell has started to make its way to other Republicans. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida posted Wednesday morning a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social and wrote, “President Trump is right. Fed Chair Powell has lied to and failed the American people for years - it’s time for new leadership at the Federal Reserve.”
A senior White House official, however, told CNBC that Trump’s post wasn’t a threat to fire Powell and there was no plan to end the chair’s term early. And when a reporter in the Oval Office asked if Trump intended to fire Powell if the Fed chair didn’t deliver rate cuts, Trump avoided directly answering the question and reiterated his desire for rate cuts.
“I think he should do the rate cuts because I think if Europe has done it, he puts us at a disadvantage here. I mean, he plays right into their hands,” Trump said. “The Fed really owes it to the American people to get interest rates down, and that’s the only thing he’s good for. And he would have an effect on that if he lowered them, and I think at some point he will. He’s going to have a lot of political pressure.”
Earlier in the media event, a reporter asked Trump if he regret nominating Powell during his first presidential term. Trump also mostly pivoted: “Look, in the first four years, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. Stock market went up 88 points. I think he’s terrible, but I can’t complain because we had the most successful administration economically in the history of our country. I think we’re going to do even better this time.”
And not everyone in Trump’s circle is clamoring to see Powell ousted. Politico reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has repeatedly gone to the White House to warn that any attempt to fire Powell “would risk destabilizing financial markets.”
Even Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who’s criticized Powell before and serves as ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, told CNBC that “if Chairman Powell can be fired by the president of the United States, it will crash markets in the United States.”
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Nuha Dolby is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.