Trump escalates threats to fire US Federal Reserve Chair Powell

United States President Donald Trump says he would fire US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell from his separate seat on the central bank’s board of governors if Powell does not step down voluntarily when his term ends on May 15.

The president on Wednesday ramped up threats against Powell, saying in an interview with Fox Business that if Powell does not leave, then he would  “have to fire him”.

“If he’s not leaving on time – I’ve held back firing him, I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial, you know. I want to be uncontroversial, but he will be fired,” Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.

“President Trump’s threats of firing Chair Powell are hardly surprising, but are simply not consistent with what the law provides. The president already appears to be losing in court in his attempt to fire [Fed] Governor Lisa Cook, and he will likely lose again if he tries to fire Chair Powell,” Skanda Amarnath, executive director of Employ America, an economic policy think tank, told Al Jazeera.

Trump’s comments come amidst delays in the confirmation of Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to succeed Powell as the Fed chair. Warsh’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee is slated for next Tuesday.

But whether he will be confirmed remains unclear. Last month, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said that he would block Warsh’s confirmation until the federal criminal probe into Powell has ended. If a nominee fails to be confirmed, Powell would stay on as the chair until one is confirmed.

In the Fox Business interview, Trump gave no indication that US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro would back down from investigating a Fed building renovation project the administration has criticised for cost overruns.

Trump has long pushed back against the Fed’s cautiousness about cutting interest rates, and he has pushed for more control over the central bank’s board and having more members who align with his views.

In December, Trump said that he would not appoint someone to lead the central bank who did not agree with him.

Undermining independence

Powell has pushed back on the investigation into him, calling it a pretext to undermine the central bank’s independence when assessing monetary policy.

In March, a federal prosecutor admitted that the investigation into the renovations had turned up no evidence of a crime.

With greater control of seats on the seven-member board, Warsh would have a freer hand in setting monetary policy and making other changes at the central bank that the administration might seek.