Trump says he would not reappoint ‘political’ Jay Powell as Fed chair

Former President Donald Trump said Friday he would not reappoint Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair if he returns to the White House next year.

In an interview with Fox Business, Trump called Powell “political” and suggested that he might lower interest rates to help Democrats electorally in the fall.

“I think he’s going to do something to probably help the Democrats, you know, I think if he lowers interest rates,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo.

The Fed declined to comment. Trump selected Powell as Fed Chair in 2017.

Trump's comments come as the Fed is weighing when to begin lowering interest rates. The central bank held rates steady at its meeting this week, and Powell said the board is unlikely to see enough evidence of success in its fight against inflation to begin dropping rates in March.

Powell said at a news conference in December that “we don’t think about political events” in formulating monetary policy.

“We don’t think about politics,” he said. “We think about what’s the right thing to do for the economy. The minute we start thinking about those things — you know, we just can’t do that. We have to think, what’s the right thing? We’ll do the things that we think are right for the economy when we think is the right time. That’s what we’ll always do."