Trump: Powell doing ‘a terrible job’ but will ‘make a change in eight months’ when his term ends
Trump was asked about his alleged plans to fire Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, that have been reported by US media.
“He’s always been too late, hence his nickname ‘Too Late’,” Trump said. “He should’ve cut interest rates a long time ago.”
He accuses Powell of only cutting interest rates to benefit Democrats in the 2024 election. (It’s worth remembering here that Powell first assumed this role under Trump in 2017.)
“I think he does a terrible job, he’s costing us lots of money,” Trump said.
He also mentions that he was surprised Powell was appointed (…) but then goes on to say that Biden should not have extended him.
However, he does back away from the idea of firing Powell, saying instead that “we get to make a change in eight months.”
The president does not have the power to fire the Federal Reserve chair. But reports said on Tuesday, Trump asked Republican lawmakers if he should fire Powell, and several people in the room indicated he will do it.
Key events
Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with the US, but he is in no rush to talk.
“They want to negotiate badly,” Trump said. “We’re in no rush.”
Donald Trump said he will be having a meeting on Thursday regarding the US citizen beaten to death by settlers in the West Bank.
Reporters are asking Donald Trump about the letter reported by the New York Times about firing Jerome Powell. The president denied the existence of the letter, but said Republicans he spoke to said he should fire the Federal Reserve chairman.
“Almost every one of them said I should, but I’m more conservative than they are,” Trump said.
Asked if he ruled out firing Powell, Trump said: “I don’t rule out anything but I think it’s highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud.”
Trump: Powell doing ‘a terrible job’ but will ‘make a change in eight months’ when his term ends
Trump was asked about his alleged plans to fire Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, that have been reported by US media.
“He’s always been too late, hence his nickname ‘Too Late’,” Trump said. “He should’ve cut interest rates a long time ago.”
He accuses Powell of only cutting interest rates to benefit Democrats in the 2024 election. (It’s worth remembering here that Powell first assumed this role under Trump in 2017.)
“I think he does a terrible job, he’s costing us lots of money,” Trump said.
He also mentions that he was surprised Powell was appointed (…) but then goes on to say that Biden should not have extended him.
However, he does back away from the idea of firing Powell, saying instead that “we get to make a change in eight months.”
The president does not have the power to fire the Federal Reserve chair. But reports said on Tuesday, Trump asked Republican lawmakers if he should fire Powell, and several people in the room indicated he will do it.
When Trump opened the floor to questions, the first was about the Israeli strikes in Syria. The president asked Marco Rubio, the US state secretary, to respond.
Rubio said: “It’s complicated, obviously these are long time historic rivalries between groups in the south-west of Syria. It led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side.”
He said the US has been engaged with both sides and says he hopes to see some “real progress” in the next few hours.
Donald Trump is now speaking from the oval office as he meets with the crown prince of Bahrain.
And on cue, the New York Times just sent a push alert stating that Donald Trump drafted a letter to fire Jerome Powell and asked Republicans if he should send it.
Trump showed off a draft of a letter firing the chair of Federal Reserve, Jerome H Powell, during a meeting with roughly a dozen House Republicans on Tuesday night, polling them as to whether he should do it and indicating that he likely would, according to two people briefed on the meeting.
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Trump will actually go ahead with trying to fire Mr. Powell, a move that some in his administration have cautioned could be calamitous and have far more expansive fallout than the president appears to anticipate.
Fact check: Can Trump fire Powell?
Donald Trump has long been feuding with Jerome Powell over what he perceives as a mishandling of the Federal Reserve, particularly when it comes to interest rates.
As media outlets report Trump’s plan to fire Powell, it is important to note that the US president does not have the power to do so over a monetary policy dispute. A recent US supreme court decision agreed that Trump cannot remove Fed officials at will.
Powell, who Trump nominated in 2017 and then re-nominated by Joe Biden, has said he intends to serve out his term as Fed chair, which ends on 15 May 2026.
Bloomberg is also now reporting citing a White House official that Donald Trump is likely to fire Jerome Powell soon and the process to select a successor is underway.
Trump indicated to GOP lawmakers he would fire Fed chair Jerome Powell – report
Donald Trump on Tuesday asked Republican lawmakers if he should fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and several people in the room indicated he will do it, CBS News is reporting, citing multiple sources with direct knowledge.
The meeting with members of the House of Representatives took place at the Oval Office. Per CBS’s report:
The idea of a president removing a Fed chair is legally untested — federal law says the chair can only be fired “for cause”. The action could have serious negative effects on financial markets.
Sources inside the administration told CBS News the president has been socializing the possibility of a for-cause firing in public and private remarks, but the White House has not yet formally built a legal predicate.
The Trump administration has tried to increase the pressure on Powell, with some administration officials publicly accusing the Fed of mismanaging a multibillion-dollar project to renovate its Washington headquarters — an allegation Powell has pushed back on.
Trump has relentlessly attacked Powell in recent months over his view that the Fed is not acting quickly enough to lower interest rates and called on him to resign.
Powell has said that the Fed would’ve cut interest rates by now had it not been for Trump’s tariff policy, and has maintained many times that the Fed takes independent economic decisions.
Trump calls Epstein case a hoax and lashes out at Maga critics
In a lengthy Truth Social post earlier, Donald Trump has dismissed the furious Maga backlash over the Jeffrey Epstein case as a “scam” perpetuated by Democrats and accused his so-called “past supporters” – who have called for more transparency around documents related to the case – of “doing the Democrats’ work” by buying into the “hoax”.
Trump’s base has been in uproar over the justice department’s recent decision to halt further disclosures related to Epstein, including the alleged client list, as well as its finding that he died by suicide.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
However, it is very much his current – and prominent – supporters who are leading the calls for the so-called Epstein files to be released, including members of Congress like key Trump ally House speaker Mike Johnson, and influential Maga figures like far-right activist Laura Loomer.
Trump then went on to suggest that his supporters questioning the administration’s handling of the case were “weaklings” and he didn’t want their support any more:
I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.
Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!
The president has appeared exasperated by the controversy in recent days which has dramatically fractured his usually solid Maga base, and has tried to make the story go away, calling Epstein “somebody that nobody cares about”, describing the case as “pretty boring stuff” and saying it’s of interest only to “bad people”.
Trump administration sued by US states for cutting disaster prevention grants
A group of 20 mostly Democrat-led US states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block the Trump administration from terminating a multibillion-dollar grant program that funds infrastructure upgrades to protect against natural disasters.
The lawsuit filed in Boston federal court claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) lacked the power to cancel the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program in April after it was approved and funded by Congress.
Fema, part of the US Department of Homeland Security, has come under scrutiny for its response to deadly floods in Texas earlier this month, which has put renewed focus on the Trump administration’s moves to shrink or abolish the agency.
Further to that, Axios is reporting that the Trump administration asked Israel again on Wednesday to halt its strikes on Syria and engage in dialogue with the government in Damascus.
Citing a senior US official, Axios’s report did not say whether that request came before or after Israeli strikes on Wednesday on Syria’s military headquarters and near the presidential palace in Damascus.
Rubio says US ‘very concerned’ about Israeli strikes on Syria
Secretary of state Marco Rubio, asked about Israeli strikes on Syria on Wednesday, said the United States was “very concerned”, adding that he had just spoken to the relevant parties over the phone.
“We’re going to be working on that issue as we speak. I just got off the phone with the relevant parties. We’re very concerned about it, and hopefully we’ll have some updates later today. But we’re very concerned about it,” Rubio said.
He added that the US wants fighting to stop as clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters broke out hours after a ceasefire agreement.
Mamdani says he won’t use phrase ‘globalize the intifada’ amid backlash
Separately, my colleague Edward Helmore reports that Zohran Mamdani told New York business leaders yesterday he will not use the phrase “globalize the intifada” and discourage others from doing so.
He had previously cautiously defended and declined to condemn the phrase – for some it represents a call for violence against Jewish people, while for others it is a rallying cry for Palestinian resistance and liberation – and Mamdani had been under pressure to clarify his position.
Indeed he explained at the meeting that many use “globalize the intifada” as an expression of support for the Palestinian people and, for him, the phrase means protest against the Israeli occupation of Gaza, according to the Wall Street Journal. Mamdani also said he is willing to discourage the specific language, but not the idea behind it.
AOC hosts Mamdani in DC as key Democrats hold out on endorsements
New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is in Washington DC this morning to attend a breakfast event hosted by representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. While he’s in DC Mamdani will also meet with Bernie Sanders.
It comes at a time of soul-searching for Democrats across the country as the party struggles to decide between a more progressive or moderate approach as the best way for it to evolve and appeal to voters in the Trump era. Mamdani, a young, democratic socialist who set off a political earthquake with his stunning win of the Democratic nomination last month, finds himself and his brand of politics at the forefront of that existential question for the party.
This is exemplified by the fact that key New York Democrats including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and governor Kathy Hochul, have all stopped short of endorsing Mamdani for November’s election. His much-anticipated meeting with Jeffries will take place at the end of this week back in New York. He will also reportedly meet with Schumer in New York.
“I think a lot of people just need to get to know folks before they issue an endorsement. I hope that this conversation can be constructive to bring the party together and rally behind our nominee,” said AOC, per Fox News.
RFK Jr abruptly fires two top aides – report
The secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has abruptly fired two of his top aides – chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson – CNN is reporting, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The decision came after Kennedy lost confidence in the two aides as part of his leadership team, one of the people familiar with the matter told CNN, although it was unclear whether there was a single triggering event that prompted the firings.
In a statement provided to CNN, an HHS spokesperson confirmed the moves and said the department’s White House liaison, Matt Buckham, would serve as acting chief of staff.
He brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role. Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again.
Kennedy has not yet decided on permanent replacements for Flick and Anderson, the people familiar with the matter told CNN.
