U.S. President Trump admits he is not planning to fire Fed Chair

Just hours after Trump told House Republicans that he planned to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, he told the press on Wednesday that it probably wasn’t happening.

“We’re not planning on doing it,” he said at the White House. Then he added, “I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely, unless he has to leave for fraud.”

That walk-back came less than 24 hours after a very different message from the Oval. On Tuesday evening, Trump met with a group of GOP lawmakers to talk about crypto bills stuck in Congress. During that meeting, Trump asked them straight-up whether he should go ahead and remove Powell.

According to a senior White House official who allegedly spoke anonymously to CNBC, lawmakers supported the idea. “The President asked lawmakers how they felt about firing the Fed Chair. They expressed approval. The President indicated he likely will soon,” the official said.

Trump drafted a letter to fire Powell and showed it off during crypto meeting

It didn’t stop there. While they were all still gathered in the White House, Trump reportedly showed the group a draft termination letter addressed to Powell. That was confirmed by The New York Times, which said Trump had already written it and brought it to the crypto meeting. This whole exchange happened during a conversation that was supposed to be about blockchain legislation.

So far, Federal Reserve officials have completely refused to comment on what was said that night behind closed doors. Powell himself has always stood firm, repeating in public that removing him from his job is “not permitted under the law.” Technically, no U.S. president has ever actually fired the head of the central bank, even though many have publicly criticized them.

Meanwhile, when the initial reports broke that Trump was considering firing Powell, the markets took a dive. But those losses reversed quickly after Trump denied it to reporters. That’s the level of impact this issue had.

Inside the White House, however, attacks on Powell haven’t stopped. Several top Trump aides are still pushing to get the Fed to lower its main interest rate. Lately, they’ve started going after Powell for something totally unrelated to monetary policy; renovations at the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Trump uses Fed renovation as ammo, floats “fraud” angle

That’s right, the latest angle is about a $2.5 billion remodel of the Federal Reserve’s building. It’s been plagued by delays and cost overruns, and Powell has asked the inspector general to open a review. But Trump isn’t letting that go quietly. “Fraud is possible,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “So there could be something to that. But I think he’s not doing a good job. He’s got a very easy job to do. You know what he has to do? Lower interest rates.”

Let’s be clear: Powell has kept interest rates flat since cutting them in late 2024. Trump, on the other hand, wants major action, as in 3 percentage points of cuts. Right now, the federal funds rate is between 4.25% and 4.5%. That means Trump wants it somewhere near 1.25%. And he’s not exactly being subtle about it.

On Wednesday, Arkansas Rep. French Hill, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told CNBC that “I don’t see” the firing happening. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave a similar answer to Bloomberg a day earlier, saying he didn’t expect any action from the president. So there’s clearly division inside the party about how far this will go.

But then came Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, who posted on X, “Hearing Jerome Powell is getting fired! From a very serious source.” She followed that with another post: “I’m 99% sure firing is imminent.”

Let’s not forget, Trump is the one who picked Powell in the first place. He nominated him in November 2018, replacing Janet Yellen, who later joined the Biden administration as Treasury Secretary. Powell got confirmed by the Senate in February 2019, but it’s been rocky ever since. Trump has criticized him repeatedly, both during his first term and now during his second.

And it’s not just Powell. On Wednesday, Trump also took aim at the rest of the Fed Board. “That goes for his board too, because his board is not doing the job as they should,” he said. Funny thing is, he picked them too. That includes Michelle Bowman, now vice chair of bank supervision, and Christopher Waller, both of whom were Trump’s own appointees.

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