Posted on 07/16/25
| News Source: WSJ
President Trump denied that he was planning to attempt to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after polling Republican lawmakers during a closed-door meeting about whether he should oust him.
“We’re not planning on doing anything,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding later, “I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely. Unless he has to leave for fraud.”
The president suggested he could attempt to remove Powell for cause, arguing the central bank spent too much money on renovations of two historic office buildings.
Trump has for years raised the prospect of firing Powell, but has stopped short of doing so. The president has grown increasingly frustrated with Powell in recent months.
The president has hammered Powell for what he has characterized as dragging his feet on interest-rate cuts. He wants the Fed to slash its benchmark rate—currently around 4.3%—by up to 3 percentage points to reduce federal borrowing expenses.
White House advisers are targeting a makeover of the Fed’s historic building and an adjacent vacant property the Fed acquired seven years ago.
The Fed’s board approved the construction project in 2017 and the latest renovations began three years ago. The Fed says the building has faced cost overruns due in part to unforeseen construction conditions such as more asbestos than anticipated, toxic contamination in the soil, and a higher-than-expected water table.
The building allegations take on greater significance given legal constraints on presidential power over the Fed. A recent Supreme Court order suggested Fed officials couldn’t be removed from their jobs over a policy dispute, meaning they would have to be removed “for cause,” which has generally been interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty.