Kevin Hassett, chair of the White House National Economic Council, has confirmed that the Trump administration is looking to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Speaking to reporters on Friday at the White House, Hassett confirmed that the Trump administration is exploring their options to remove Powell despite the legal obstacles preventing President Donald Trump from outright dismissing him.
Trump has been unhappy with Powell and wants him gone to complete the removal of elements from former President Joe Biden's time in the White House.
Powell is not in alignment with Trump's goals and has refused to cooperate with the White House on economic policy.
Speaking to reporters, Hassett stated that, “The president and his team will continue to study" the options available to give Powell the boot and replace him with someone who will support Trump's agenda.
The Federal Reserve and the White House have been bound for conflict ever since President Donald Trump's confirmation as President back in January.
The Federal Reserve's independence from the executive branch means that Trump has less power to unilaterally effect change.
Trump has gone on a firing spree, removing executive officials appointed by Joe Biden by the dozen. The Trump administration has made it a priority to purge former Biden officials, and that includes Powell, who was the architect of many of Biden's disastrous economic policies.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, President Trump tore into Powell, saying he couldn't wait for his "termination" after Powell refused to cut interest rates, which are still holding back economic activity.
Powell is protected by a Supreme Court precedent that has existed nearly as long as the Federal Reserve has. Trump can't dismiss Powell unless he's found to have committed misconduct or severe neglect of office.
But that isn't stopping the White House from exploring their options to get rid of the defiant Powell, who shows no signs of stepping down from his position.
The Federal Reserve has enjoyed a level of unearned independence and weilds an incredible amount of power for not being either elected by the people or under the rule of the president elected by the American people.
Powell himself has shown himself to be a political actor, as many of his stances have changed since the election of Donald Trump. After years of acting like massive spending wasn't an issue, Powell suddenly decided to criticize Trump's tariff plans that will supposedly cost too much, unlike Biden's insane and reckless spending.
Hassett called Powell out on this by saying, "Having everybody that refused to warn about the runaway spending out there, saying, ‘Oh, this is going to be a catastrophe for inflation because of the tariffs,’ means that people need to improve their models and improve their messaging."
Powell is an actor of the establishment and will fight Trump's attempts to effect genuine reform, and as such, must be removed, even if it means overturning decades of legal precedent.
