Powell reveals what it would take to step down from the Fed as pressure mounts
As political pressure and legal scrutiny intensify, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made clear what would force him to step down.Powell, who holds one of the most influential posts...
By Fox News · Fox News
As political pressure and legal scrutiny intensify, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made clear what would force him to step down. Powell, who holds one of the most influential posts in U.S. economic policymaking, has made clear he won’t step aside absent a legal violation. That stance is detailed in an excerpt from "Trillion Dollar Triage," in which Wall Street Journal economic correspondent Nick Timiraos chronicles Powell’s measured public responses and more candid private reactions to Trump’s ongoing threats to fire him. A LOOK AT THE UNFOLDING BATTLE BETWEEN TRUMP AND POWELL OVER FED POLICY Powell's commitment to the Fed, amid Trump's mounting criticism, became apparent in 2019 during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing. When asked by California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters what he would do if Trump fired him, Powell said he would continue to serve his four-year term. According to Timiraos, in private, Powell was more forthright about his determination to continue leading the world’s most influential central bank. "I will never, ever, ever leave this job voluntarily until my term ends under any circumstances. None, whatsoever," Powell said. "You will not see me getting in the lifeboat," he said, invoking a metaphor to signal his resolve to stay the course. "It doesn't occur to me in the slightest that there would be any situation in which I would not complete my term other than dying," Powell said, according to Timiraos. TRUMP CALLS FED CHAIR POWELL A ‘CLOWN’ AND SLAMS FED RENOVATION Powell’s long-standing insistence on finishing his term , which ends in May, now comes amid a Justice Department criminal investigation into his congressional testimony on the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation. Powell confirmed the investigation and said he respected the rule of law and congressional oversight, but described the action as "unprecedented" and driven by political pressure. "This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the ren…