President Trump’s effort to get Kevin M. Warsh confirmed as the next Federal Reserve chair has been complicated by a criminal investigation into Jerome H. Powell.
The comments by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent underscore the urgency the Trump administration is feeling as it looks to replace the Federal Reserve chair.
As the justices weighed the consequences of allowing President Trump to fire a Federal Reserve official, the president reprised his pressure campaign on the central bank.
In addition to disputing whether the president had sufficient cause to remove her, the Fed governor said the way he went about it was a separate problem.
The filing, also signed by six former Treasury secretaries, said that letting President Trump fire Lisa Cook would deal a blow to the credibility of the nation’s monetary policy.
The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on Wednesday in the case of Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor whom President Trump is trying to fire. Our reporter Colby Smith describes the importance of Cook’s case for the independence of the central bank.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was a mistake for Jerome Powell to attend arguments in a case on Fed independence. But Mr. Bessent attended a tariff case.
“If you’re trying not to politicize the Fed, for the Fed chair to be sitting there trying to put his thumb on the scale is a real mistake,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The blowback set off by the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the central bank, has shaken up the race to replace him.
The overwhelming defense of Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, is the product of something President Trump may have underestimated: Mr. Powell’s popularity.
Anmelden
