President Trump again said Powell should resign immediately, repeating a call he made last week, and noted that “it’s OK with me” if Congress investigates the Federal Reserve chairman.
The comments came as the president took questions during a cabinet meeting in Washington on Tuesday,
One reporter asked Trump about accusations made by some Republican lawmakers that Powell had misled Congress about renovations at the Fed’s headquarters building.
“He should resign immediately,” Trump said, echoing what he posted last Wednesday on Truth Social.
He noted again that he wanted someone in that post who would lower interest rates. Powell has urged patience on any rate cuts due to the possibility that Trump’s tariffs could stoke inflation this summer.
The reporters asked Trump if he wanted Congressional Republicans to investigate Powell’s statements about Fed building renovations, and Trump said: “It’s OK with me; I think he is terrible.”
Powell, Trump added, was “cutting rates like crazy” before last November’s presidential election and “he was trying to get them in I guess,” referring to his Democratic opponents.
Trump then appeared to face his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was seated across the table from him: “I like you better,” he said.
Bessent is now on a short list of people who could succeed Powell as the next Federal Reserve chair when his term expires next May, according to people close to the administration.
Other names that have been in the mix include former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, former World Bank president David Malpass, and current Fed governor Christopher Waller.
Trump told reporters last week, “I have two or three top choices,” roughly a week after saying, “I know within three or four people who I’m going to pick.”
One option being contemplated by the administration, Bessent said last week, is that Trump appoints a new person to the Fed’s board of governors to fill a new 14-year seat that opens up with the scheduled departure of Fed governor Adriana Kugler on Jan. 31, and “that person will go on to be chair when Powell leaves in May.”
“Or we could appoint the new chair in May. Unfortunately, that’s just a two-year seat,” he added in an interview with Bloomberg.
That second scenario implies that Powell would also step down from the Fed’s board of governors. His term as a member of the board of governors does not expire until 2028. Powell has not said whether he intends to remain as a member of the board of governors through the end of his term.
Bessent raised that same scenario in an interview last Thursday with Fox.
“We get to hopefully fill two seats next year,” he said.
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