HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Federal Reserve head Jerome Powell announced Wednesday he will remain on the central bank’s board after his term as chair ends.
Powell said during a press conference that he will stay as a governor with a “low profile” after the Senate confirms his nominated replacement, Kevin Warsh. Powell’s plan will likely anger President Donald Trump, who has threatened to fire him over his policy stances.
“My decisions on these matters will continue to be guided entirely by what I believe is in the best interest of the institution and the people we serve,” Powell said. “After my term as chair ends on May 15, I will continue to serve as a governor for a period of time to be determined.”
The Senate could confirm Warsh in the coming weeks. Trump has joked about suing him if he declines to cut interest rates, as the current chair has done for much of the president’s second term.
Powell’s refusal to align with the White House’s monetary policy has angered Trump, who has threatened to fire the chair and likely influenced the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into him.
Trump has said the probe, which is focused on cost overruns in the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovations, is only to determine whether Powell has acted illegally, although lawmakers in both parties have recognized it as an attempt to intimidate the chair into lowering interest rates.
“How is this absolutely terrible Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, not even allowed to be investigated for the horrible job he does?” Trump said in a social media post last month, when a federal judge tossed out DOJ subpoenas. “How is he allowed to be Billions of Dollars over budget, and years behind schedule, on the simple renovation of the small Federal Reserve Complex in Washington, D.C., where he created an absolute disaster — A money pit, and embarrassment to our Country for the whole World to see!”
Powell has committed to staying at the Federal Reserve until the investigation ends. Jeanine Pirro, the head federal prosecutor of Washington, D.C., said Friday that she was handing off the probe to the central bank’s inspector general, although she warned about restarting it.
“I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry,” Pirro wrote in an X post. “Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”
Powell said during his Wednesday press conference that he is tracking the “remaining steps” of the probe “carefully.”
Do you have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at rjlewis@sbgtv.com.