Kevin Warsh, former governor of the US Federal Reserve, during The Semafor World Economy Summit in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, April 18, 2024.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump has spoken with former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh about possibly replacing the current central bank chairman, Jerome Powell, before his term expires, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
But Warsh has advised Trump not to fire Powell or interfere with his tenure, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Powell’s four-year term is set to end May 2026.
Trump spoke with Warsh in meetings at the president’s home and private club Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the newspaper reported. Those conversations took place as late as February, while others have talked to Trump about firing Powell as recently as early March, according to the report.
Trump has repeatedly urged Powell to lower interest rates and criticized him for refusing to do so. In a Truth Social post Thursday morning, Trump said Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough!”
In the Oval Office that afternoon, Trump heaped more pressure on the Fed chair.
“I’m not happy with him. I let him know it, and if I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me,” Trump said, ignoring multiple follow-up questions about whether he was trying to remove Powell.
Asked for comment on the Journal’s report, the White House referred CNBC to Trump’s remarks in the Oval.
Powell has previously said the president does not have the power to fire him under the law.
Trump’s aggression has raised concern even from some of Powell’s critics — including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who warned earlier Thursday that destroying the Fed’s independence could spell catastrophe for U.S. markets.
Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.