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Trump Says Didn’t Threaten to Demote Fed's Powell, But Could

Trump has spent months criticizing Powell for raising interest rates.

Trump Says Didn’t Threaten to Demote Fed's Powell, But Could
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump denied that he’d threatened to demote Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell but said he’d “be able to do that if I wanted.”

The president repeated his criticism of Powell’s actions as Fed chief in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” conducted Friday and broadcast on Sunday.

Trump Says Didn’t Threaten to Demote Fed's Powell, But Could

“I’m not happy with his actions,” Trump said of Powell. “No, I don’t think he’s done a good job.”

Trump has spent months criticizing Powell, 66, whom he chose to replace Janet Yellen as Fed chair in 2018, for raising interest rates, in his view, too far and too fast.

“I didn’t ever threaten to demote him,” Trump told NBC. “I have the right to do that. But I haven’t said that.”

Trump told confidants as recently as Wednesday that he believes he has the authority to replace Powell as Fed chairman, demoting him to the level of board governor, according to people familiar with the matter. Powell said on Wednesday that he intends to serve his full four-year term and that “the law is clear” on that issue.

Trump said the U.S. economy is strong enough to “bull through” what he sees as the headwinds created by the Fed’s four interest rate hikes in 2018 “but I’m not happy with” Powell’s actions.

“I had somebody that raised the rates very rapidly. Too much. He made a mistake. That’s been proven,” Trump said. By contrast, Trump said his predecessor, President Barack Obama, “had somebody” -- Yellen -- “that kept rates very low.”

“Obama was playing with funny money,” Trump said. “I’m playing with the real stuff.”

Trump’s strident attacks on the Fed in interviews and on Twitter are a departure from almost three decades of caution in the White House about making public comments on monetary policy, out of respect for the independence of the central bank.

The Federal Reserve Act provides explicit protection for Fed governors against removal by the president except “for cause.” Courts have interpreted the phrase to require proof of some form of legal misconduct or neglect of basic duties. A disagreement over monetary policy wouldn’t meet that bar.

It’s less clear, however, whether the president can demote a chair, removing him or her from the top position while leaving the person as a Fed governor.

--With assistance from Saleha Mohsin and Jennifer Jacobs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny

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