Economic council head says Trump's ability to fire Fed's Powell is 'being looked into'

Megan Lebowitz

Sun, Jul 13, 2025, 2:08 PM 4 min read

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Sunday that the president’s authority to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was “being looked into.”

Asked in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” whether he believes President Donald Trump has the authority to fire Powell, whom the president has repeatedly bashed over interest rates, Hassett said, “That’s a thing that’s being looked into.”

“But certainly if there’s cause, he does,” Hassett added.

Hassett’s comments come days after Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought criticized renovations of the Federal Reserve headquarters, saying in a letter to Powell that Trump was “extremely troubled by your mismanagement of the Federal Reserve System.”

Vought sent Powell nearly a dozen questions about the renovations, asking for details about whether the project deviated from plans approved by the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees the design of federal projects.

Asked whether the price tag of the renovations could be used to fire Powell, Hassett said, “I think that whether the president decides to push down that road or not is going to depend a lot on the answers that we get to the questions that Russ Vought sent to the Fed.”

Trump has consistently slammed Powell for not lowering interest rates, calling the chair “very stupid” and dubbing him “Too Late Powell.” Powell has said that the Federal Reserve has held off on cutting interest rates because of Trump’s tariffs, pointing to higher inflation forecasts. The president told NBC News late last year, that he did not have plans to cut short Powell’s term, which ends in May 2026.

But since then, the president has indicated he wanted Powell out. He said in an April post to Truth Social that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough,” though days later he told reporters that he had “no intention” of firing him.

The Supreme Court in May allowed the president to fire members of independent federal agencies, though the court indicated that the decision did not necessarily apply to the Federal Reserve because it is a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”

Neither the White House nor the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors immediately responded to requests for further comment on Hassett’s remarks.

Whiplash on steep country-by-country tariffs — now set to go into effect on Aug. 1 — have raised questions about the state of potential trade deals. The administration has pointed to trade deficits as a primary reason for steep tariffs on imports from many countries, and officials have maintained that negotiations over trade practices are ongoing.