He denied plans to do so after President Donald Trump said he would fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in a room full of Republican lawmakers.
“We’re not going to do that,” he said Wednesday at the White House. “I won’t rule out anything,” he added.
At a meeting at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump asked a group of House Republicans if he thought he should fire Powell. According to a senior White House official, the president said he would follow through after receiving support from the move.
“The president asked lawmakers how he felt about firing the Fed chair. They expressed their approval by firing him. The president showed that he is likely to be that soon,” said an official who spoke about the terms of anonymity, who said he would be open about the issue.
Members were invited to the White House to discuss the cryptocurrency bill that had been stagnant at home.
Separately, the New York Times reported that Trump had even drafted a letter to fire Powell, and that he showed it to lawmakers during the crypto session.
Fed officials declined to comment on what happened at the oval office meeting.
But Powell has repeatedly said that his dismissal is “not permitted under the law.”
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on June 24, 2025 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, about the “Federal Reserve Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report.”
Saul Roeve | AFP | Getty Images
Others have criticized the previous Fed chair, but the president never tried to fire the country’s top central bankers.
The market was low with initial reports that Trump was planning to fire Powell, but recovered after Trump denied what the White House was telling reporters.
Key Trump White House players have launched a multi-faceted attack on Powell to push the central bank to slow down the speed of major borrowing. Recently, they blasted Powell over the Fed’s renovation to Washington headquarters, raising suspicions that Trump could try to take Fed leaders away for a cause.
A recent Supreme Court decision showed that the president was not authorized to remove federal officials at will.
Trump suggested that the “cause” could be a problem for Powell, particularly with regard to the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters. The project is suffering from overruns, and Powell is asking the Fed inspector for a review.
“Cheating is possible… so there could be something,” Trump said. “But I don’t think he’s doing a good job. He does a very easy job. Do you know what he has to do?
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Rep. R-Ark, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, reiterated that Trump “I won’t see” Powell. Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent also told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that he didn’t think Trump would move in that direction.
However, Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who worked with other party members on Tuesday to block the crypto initiative, said the move against Powell is approaching on social media site X.
“I’ve heard Jerome Powell being fired! From a very serious source,” she wrote, adding later, “I’m sure 99% of the shootings are imminent.”
Trump nominated Powell as chairman in November 2018, continuing to replace Janet Yellen.
The Senate confirmed Powell the following February, but was the subject of frequent criticism from Trump in both his first term as president and his second term.
Under Powell, the Fed has stabilized interest rates after lowering them in late 2024. Trump accused Powell of being politically motivated and cut only in 2024 to help the outlook for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
“That applies to his board of directors, because they don’t do the job they deserve,” Trump said Wednesday.
Trump has appointed not only Powell, but Governor Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, who are now vice-chairs of banking supervision.
Over the past few weeks, both have shown an eagerness to start cutting soon by a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in late July, but not at the pace Trump suggests.
The president shows that the Fed wants to take up to 3 percent points from the central bank’s overnight borrowing rate, which is currently covered between 4.25% and 4.5%.
