President Donald Trump renewed his attacks Wednesday against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, saying he would “love to fire his ass” for not lowering interest rates as much as he would like.
Speaking at a U.S.-Saudi Arabia investment forum, Trump touted mortgage rates being down “despite the Fed,” then went on a rant against Powell, whom he has criticized for months.
“I’ll be honest, I’d love to fire his ass. He should be fired. Guy’s grossly incompetent,” Trump said, to some laughter in the crowd.
Since taking office again, Trump has repeatedly flirted with the idea of firing Powell but denied that he is doing so. On Wednesday, he seemed to pressure Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to somehow convince Powell to lower interest rates further — or be fired himself. The Federal Reserve, an independent government agency that typically makes policy decisions without White House interference, trimmed rates in September and October. Trump is also attempting to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, though courts have prevented him from acting so far.
“You got to work on him, Scott,” Trump said at the investment forum. “The only thing Scott’s blowing it on is the Fed, because the Fed — the rates are too high, Scott. And if you don’t get it fixed fast, I’m going to fire your ass. Okay?”
Trump then segued into an apparent impression of a conversation between Bessent and himself.
“‘Sir, don’t fire him. Sir, please don’t fire him. He’s got three months to go. Don’t fire him,’ ” Trump said in a voice meant to imitate Bessent’s. Powell’s term as Fed chair is set to expire next May.
“He’s a voice of reason,” Trump added in his normal voice, referring to Bessent. “You’re very lucky you have him, I’ll tell you that.”
Trump also again criticized a $2.5 billion multiyear renovation project at the central bank’s offices, which he incorrectly said would cost $4 billion.
“He should be sued … I’m building a ballroom that’s going to cost a tiny fraction of that, and it’s bigger than the whole thing put together,” Trump said, referring to the $300 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition being built at the White House, where the East Wing was abruptly demolished last month.
Though Trump nominated Powell as Fed chair in 2017, during his first term, the president has ratcheted up his attacks on Powell both publicly and privately. Top Trump aides have urged him to tone it downand warned him that trying to remove the Fed chief risked exacerbating market turmoil.
Before the Fed’s decision to trim rates in September, Powell maintained that the central bank needed to hold rates steady as it monitored the effects of Trump’s tariffs.
In June, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt showed a note that she said Trump sent to Powell in his continuing efforts to pressure Powell to lower interest rates.
The note included a chart of nearly three dozen countries with lower interest rates than the United States, starting with Switzerland, with a handwritten message from Trump scrawled across the document.
“Jerome — You are, as usual, ‘too late,’” the message said. “You have cost the USA a fortune — and continue to do so — you should lower the rate — by a lot! Hundreds of billions of dollars being lost! No inflation.”
An additional note on the chart indicated Trump thought Powell should set the U.S. interest rate to be not more than 1.75 percent. The central bank’s current target is between 3.75 percent and 4 percent.
Andrew Ackerman contributed to this report.
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