Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has been telling people privately that he has no plans to leave his role early, despite President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to force him out, according to CNN on Friday. Powell reportedly says that doing so would have the same effect as ending the Fed’s independence.
CNN’s report came after Trump personally went to the Federal Reserve Bank on Thursday to try to publicly embarrass Powell about cost overruns for renovations at the bank’s headquarters. It was likely an effort to make Powell—whom Trump detests for not lowering interest rates to Trump’s desired levels and has mused about firing—decide to leave his role on his own before his term expires next May.
But an eye-popping encounter during Trump’s visit showed that he badly misjudged Powell’s intestinal fortitude.
As a hard-hat-wearing Trump toured the facility with Powell, he pulled out an incorrect number for the cost of the renovations to try to shame Powell.
“It looks like it’s about $3.1 billion,” Trump said of the cost of the projects, as Powell stood next to him angrily shaking his head. “It went up a little bit, or a lot. So the $2.7 [billion] is now $3.1 [billion].”
That’s when Powell had seemingly had enough. He asked to see Trump’s proof, saying he hadn’t seen that. Trump handed Powell a document from his jacket pocket with the costs, which Trump said has “just came out,” and that’s when Powell corrected Trump’s lie.
“You just added in a third building,” Powell said.
“It’s a building that’s being built,” Trump said back.
“No, it was built five years ago,” Powell replied, leading Trump to abruptly change the subject.
Trump rarely faces pushback to his face.
His Cabinet meetings often turn into stomach-churning fluff sessions in which administration officials heap praise onto Dear Leader. World leaders, too, try to get what they want out of Trump by publicly praising him.
But Powell, whom Trump has been attacking for months as a “loser,” was not playing that game.
Ultimately, the only way Trump can fire Powell is for cause. And legal experts say renovation cost overruns are a weak ruse since Trump has been clear that he actually wants to fire Powell for not doing what he wants in regards to monetary policy.
Indeed, after Powell confronted Trump’s lies to his face, Trump said Thursday that he will not attempt to fire Powell.
“To do that is a big move and I just don’t think it’s necessary,” Trump said. “I believe that he’s going to do the right thing, I believe that the chairman is going to do the right thing. It may be a little too late, as the expression goes.”
At the end of the day, this whole situation is like a famous scene in the sitcom “The Office,” in which branch manager Michael Scott wants to fire his nemesis, human-resources representative Toby Flenderson.
“Is there no way we can get rid of him?” Scott asks the company’s chief financial officer, David Wallace.
“Not without cause, Michael,” Wallace says.
“I have cause,” Scott replies. “It is beCAUSE I hate him.”
The only difference here is that Michael Scott, unlike Donald Trump, is a likeable character.