White House Refutes Trump Sought to Fire Powell

Dec 24, 2018

President Trump used a White House meeting with community bank leaders to repeat his commitment to rolling back some of the Dodd-Frank Act’s regulations

The White House is pushing back against anonymously-sourced media reports that President Trump sought to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

On Friday, Bloomberg ran an article using four unidentified sources that insisted the president wanted to fire Powell, whose leadership during a period of rate hikes has generated angry comments from Trump. However, CNBC reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pushed back at the Bloomberg report, going on Twitter to share a Trump quote that there were never any discussions to fire Powell.

On Saturday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also stated that Powell’s job was not in jeopardy. However, incoming Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney stated during an ABC interview that the president "now realizes" he does not have the authority to fire Powell, which may suggest the subject had been raised in discussion.

Nonetheless, the president is still not happy with the Fed's recent rate hikes. This morning, Trump took to Twitter and stated: "The only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch - he can’t putt!"

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Phil Hall

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Dec 24, 2018

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