President Donald Trump is still keen on removing Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve.
Near the end of his Monday briefing at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, a reporter asked Trump if he would tell Powell to resign. The president said he was “getting pretty close,” adding, “I would fire him.”
He said he would announce Powell’s replacement sometime in January. His comments came at the end of the briefing, which he held with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During the briefing, Trump threw several insults at Powell, calling him “an absolute fool.” He also brought out a common insult, “too late Powell,” a reference to Powell not lowering interest rates as quickly as Trump wanted him to.
Trump said he would launch a “gross incompetence lawsuit” against the Fed chair, repeating his old criticisms of Powell not lowering interest rates and spending too much on a renovation of the Federal Reserve building.
In response to a request for comment from Business Insider, a Fed representative said he had nothing to add.
Powell, 72, has served as the Fed’s chair since 2017, when Trump nominated him to the top job during his first term. He was reappointed for a second term in 2022, which is set to end in May 2026.
Trump has repeatedly called for Powell’s resignation since the start of his term.
In April, he said in a Truth Social post that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough,” after the chair criticized his wide-ranging tariffs and said they could lead to high inflation and weak economic growth.
In July, sources confirmed to Business Insider that Trump had asked a group of lawmakers about firing Powell, and they gave him their approval for the decision.
However, Trump appeared to backtrack that same month, saying that he was “highly unlikely” to take that step and that his administration would choose someone else for the role within the next eight months.
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