US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, should “resign immediately,” escalating an earlier call less than a week ago encouraging him to do so.
The president has repeatedly lambasted Mr Powell recently for not cutting interest rates, saying he was costing the country a “fortune” in debt-servicing costs.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Mr Trump linked to an article about comments from Bill Pulte, the head of the US Housing Finance Agency, who wrote on social platform X that the Fed chair should be investigated for “his political bias, and his deceptive Senate testimony”.
At issue is Mr Powell’s insistence that the Fed can afford to be patient about cutting interest rates with the economy still on solid footing and inflation risks rising again because of Mr Trump’s tariffs.
On Tuesday, Mr Powell hinted that the Fed would have been able to lower rates if it were not for those policies.
In his statement on X, Mr Pulte, who leads the agency that regulates mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, accused Mr Powell of making false statements at a congressional hearing about the swelling costs of a planned renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.
[ Fed holds rates unchanged as Donald Trump calls chairman Jerome Powell ‘stupid’Opens in new window ]
At that hearing, Powell pushed back on media reports that the plans included features like a VIP diningroom and new marble table.
The administration’s attacks on Mr Powell are not new. Just in the past week, Trump has called Mr Powell a “stubborn mule” and penned him a handwritten note to apply pressure on the Fed to lower interest rates.
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The president has also previously threatened to remove Powell from his role as chair before his term expires in 2026, but the Supreme Court recently signalled he is not able to do so.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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