President Trump has told top GOP lawmakers he will likely fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, two sources briefed on the matter told The Post.
The sources confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the matter, which said Trump discussed the plan with GOP lawmakers in Congress on Tuesday.
An administration insider close to the commander-in-chief, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the nature of those talks to The Post with congressional Republicans.
“They expressed approval for firing him. The President indicated he likely will soon,” the source said.
The news comes as Powell came under fire for refusing to cut interest rates despite Trump’s relentless demands.
It also comes after what one senior administration official branded a “deceptive” testimony by the Fed chair to the Senate Banking Committee on June 25 about the central bank’s $2.5 billion “Palace of Versailles” revamp of its DC headquarters.
Powell, facing questioning by GOP lawmakers including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, denied The Post’s exclusive reporting about the lavish renovations to the Fed’s offices.
The 72-year-old trashed this newspaper’s coverage of the scandal as “misleading and inaccurate” despite directly contradicting the project’s own planning documents that were signed off in 2021.
A separate administration official told The Post that White House counsel believes the Fed broke DC planning regulations by not submitting any revisions to the National Capital Planning Commission.
“The Federal Reserve Act authorizes the President to fire a top Fed official for ‘inefficiency’, which refers to gross mismanagement of public funds, or ‘malfeasance’, which refers to violations of law,” said Andrew T. Levin, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and a former senior Fed official.
A White House spokesman declined to comment. A Fed spokesman pointed to remarks Powell made on April 4 that he “intends” to see out his full term that expires in May of next year.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
