President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued his barrage of criticism against the Federal Reserve but seemed to take a step back from any lingering plans to fire Chair Jerome Powell.
“I think he’s done a bad job, but he’s going to be out pretty soon anyway,” Trump told reporters during a White House exchange. “Eight months, he’ll be out.”
The exchange came amid continued speculation over Powell’s job security and legal questions over what authority Trump has to remove the central bank leader.
Going back to his first term in office when he appointed Powell, Trump has repeatedly criticized the Fed for an at-times cautious approach to cutting, though it lowered its benchmark borrowing rate a full percentage point in late 2024 around the time of the presidential election. Powell’s term as chair ends in May 2026.
Trump has accused Powell of being political and nicknamed him “too late” when it has come time to adjusting rates.
“He’s too late all the time. He should have lowered interest rates many times,” Trump said. “People aren’t able to buy a house because this guy is a numbskull. He keeps the rates too high, and [is] probably doing it for political reasons.”
The president has floated the idea of trying to fire Powell, going so far as to ask Republicans gathered in his office last week about the idea. However, he soon after called it “highly unlikely” that he would try.
In addition to the criticism over rates, the White House has called into question a $2.5 billion renovation project the Fed has undertaken on two of its Washington, D.C. buildings. Administration officials plan to tour the site Thursday, according to a post Tuesday on X from James Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who earlier in the day Tuesday said Powell “has been a good public servant,” said the Fed needs to “do a big internal investigation to understand not their monetary policy but everything else. The Fed has had this big mission creep, and that’s where a lot of the spending is going.”
Trump complained that the Fed “can be spending $2.7 billion to build a building. They don’t do anything.”