April 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump again threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if he doesn’t step down from his position in May.
“Then I’ll have to fire him,” the president said on Fox Business. “If he’s not leaving on time — I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial. I want to be uncontroversial.”
Powell’s term as chair ends on May 15 and Trump does not have the authority to fire him without cause. But his nominated replacement, Kevin Warsh, hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate. If he doesn’t get confirmed, Powell could stay on as chair pro tempore.
“That’s what the law calls for. That’s what we’ve done on several occasions,” Powell said.
He said he plans to stay on the board.
“I have no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality,” Powell said.
The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to have hearings on Warsh’s nomination on April 21.
Powell’s term as a Fed governor goes until 2028, but he said he hasn’t decided if he’ll serve out that term.
Complicating matters, the Trump administration has been trying to prosecute Powell for his role in the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters. The building went far over budget, and Trump has implied that something illegal is happening.
U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro tried to subpoena Powell over the renovation, but a judge denied it. Pirro admitted she had no evidence.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-S.C., who is on the Senate Banking Committee, said he will continue to block Warsh’s confirmation until the investigation into Powell ends.
But Trump said he isn’t worried about Tillis.
Tillis “is an American; he knows what to do,” he said.
Trump said the investigation must happen.
“What they’ve done to that, so it is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetent, and we have to show the incompetence of that,” he said.
Trump has wanted Powell out of the Fed since he was elected to office for the second term. He has said he wants interest rates dropped, but Powell has taken a more conservative approach. Powell has lowered the rates, but not fast enough for the president.
“Does that mean we stop a probe of a building that I would have done for $25 million that’s going to cost maybe $4 billion? Don’t you think we have to find out what happened there?” Trump said in the interview at the White House. “I have to find out.”
He called Powell “a disaster.”
“Here’s a man who took this little, tiny building and a couple of other little, tiny complex, and he’s spending more than $3 billion. I want to know who the contractor is, because that contractor is making billions of dollars, perhaps.”
The Fed said the building’s cost overruns are due to “unforeseen conditions” requiring more spending, including “more asbestos than anticipated, toxic contamination in soil, and a higher-than-expected water table.”
Trump has also tried to oust Fed governor Lisa Cook on the allegation that she committed mortgage fraud.
