President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested he was keeping him in place.
“Honestly, I’d like to fire him,” President Trump said of Powell at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, D.C.
President Trump urged Bessent to “lobby” Powell to lower interest rates quickly, and quipped that the Cabinet secretary’s job depends on it.
President Trump said, “The only thing Mr. Scott is blaming is the Fed.” “Your interest rate is too high, Scott, if you don’t fix it soon, I’ll fire you.”
It’s unclear how seriously Trump was threatening to fire Bessent.
“The White House maintains full confidence in Secretary Bessent’s work running the Treasury Department and in President Trump’s search for a new and qualified Federal Reserve Chairman,” White House Press Secretary Khush Desai told CNBC in a statement.
President Trump went on to read aloud a conversation in which Bessent implored the president to allow Powell to complete his term, which ends in May 2026.
“I can’t say — Scott: ‘Doctor, please don’t fire him. Doctor, please don’t fire him. He’s got three months left. Please don’t fire him,'” President Trump said. “I want to get rid of him!”
Trump added that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “has a little more wiggle room to fire.”
“Howard would say, ‘Get rid of him once and for all.'”
The remarks, made just before the minutes of the Fed’s October meeting were released, show central bank officials are at odds over whether to cut rates further. The Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates, ultimately approved lowering overnight borrowing rates by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent at the same meeting. The group will meet again in December.
President Trump has long criticized Powell for refusing to cut rates as quickly and as deep as the president would like.
President Trump said Tuesday at the White House that “people are holding me back” from firing Powell.
He also said his administration is in talks with multiple candidates to replace Powell. Mr. Bessent is assisting in the search process.
