“I’ll have to fire him, OK, 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,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business.
“I want to be uncontroversial. But he will be fired, he said in the interview taped on Wednesday and aired on Thursday.
Powell’s stint as the leader of the central bank expires in May, but his term on Board of Governors does not end until 2028. Trump did not clarify the timeline for which he would seek to remove Powell.
Powell has said that if his successor is not confirmed before his term as chair ends in May, he would serve as chair pro tempore. The Fed has conferred that temporary designation in the past on a board member to lead the institution when the chair role was vacant.
Trump allies have hoped that Powell would also resign his board seat when his time leading the central bank comes to a close this spring. Powell, however, has said he has “no intention” of resigning from the board until the Trump administration’s investigation by the Department of Justice into a building renovation project is “well and truly over.”
But in the interview, Trump suggested he had no plan to end the investigation.
“Whether it’s incompetence, corruption or both, I think you have to find out. I really do; I think you have to find out,” he said.
The investigation could also delay getting Powell’s designated successor, Kevin Warsh, confirmed. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, a key swing voter on the banking committee, has praised Warsh but insists he will block confirmation until the DOJ probe is resolved, calling the investigation a threat to the Fed’s independence.
That sets up a potential showdown between the Trump and Powell in the coming weeks that would likely morph into a legal battle testing the limits of Trump’s power. The president has also sought to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook, a case which has gone to the Supreme Court and has yet to be decided.
Despite Tillis’ stance, the Senate Banking Committee has scheduled an April 21 confirmation hearing for Warsh.
US prosecutors made a surprise visit to the Fed’s offices in Washington Tuesday, but were denied entry to the site.
