Trump says he won’t try to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell despite past feuds

Published

6 months ago

December 16, 2024

admin

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday he will not try to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell upon taking office in January.

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t see it,” Trump said on NBC News’ Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” when asked if he would seek to remove Powell, whose term ends in 2026.

Trump added that he didn’t think Powell, who he has sparred with in the past over interest rate levels, would go quietly.

“I think if I told him to [go], he would. But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn’t,” Trump told Welker.

Trump campaigned on a promise to lower mortgage rates and other borrowing costs for US households, raising the prospect that he could clash with Powell – as he did in his first term – over interest rate policy. Trump’s vow to implement across-the-board tariffs could also complicate the Fed’s efforts to keep inflation in check.

Last month, Powell said he would refuse to leave office early if Trump tried to oust him, arguing that removing him, or any of the other Fed governors, ahead of the end of their terms is “not permitted under the law.”

Trump named Powell, a former private equity executive and a Republican, to Fed chair in early 2018 to replace Janet Yellen, who later became President Biden’s Treasury Secretary. Biden reappointed Powell to his current term.

But the relationship between Trump and Powell turned sour, with Trump frequently attacking the Fed and its chief during his first term in office. Trump privately discussed trying to dismiss Powell in late 2018, upset over the Fed’s move to raise interest rates, and publicly argued against rate hikes.

Trump also criticized Powell in early 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying Powell had made several bad decisions and arguing he had a right to remove him.

Trump’s attacks on the Fed during his first term broke from decades of presidents steering clear of direct criticism of the central bank, which operates with legal independence subject to the oversight of Congress.

Earlier this year, Trump said he felt he should have a say in the Fed’s decisions, an indication of his interest in infringing on its independence.

Traders are expecting the Fed to cut interest rates at its upcoming Dec. 17-18 policy meeting, after recent data showed the labor market was continuing to cool. A quarter-percentage-point reduction would bring the Fed’s policy rate to the 4.25%-4.50% range, a full percentage point below where it was in September when the central bank began its easing cycle.

Politics

Banking Committee chair sets September goal for market structure bill

Published

57 mins ago

June 27, 2025

admin

Banking Committee chair sets September goal for market structure bill

After passing the GENIUS stablecoin bill, Republican leadership on the Senate Banking Committee has turned its sights to digital asset market structure.

Environment

Podcast: Xiaomi shocks with YU7, Tesla Robotaxi launch, Rivian brings back tank mode, and more

Published

3 hours ago

June 27, 2025

admin

Podcast: Xiaomi shocks with YU7, Tesla Robotaxi launch, Rivian brings back tank mode, and more

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Xiaomi shocking the industry with YU7, Tesla’s Robotaxi launch, Rivian bringing back tank mode, and more.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

Today, the episode is live at 12:15 a.m instead due to Fred’s travels in China and Seth’s in.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 12:15 a.m. ET (or the video after 1 a.m. ET):

[embedded content]

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

World

Japan executes ‘Twitter killer’ who murdered and dismembered nine people

Published

4 hours ago

June 27, 2025

admin

Japan executes 'Twitter killer' who murdered and dismembered nine people

A man guilty of murdering nine people, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media, has been executed in Japan.

Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer”, was sentenced to death in 2020 for the 2017 killings of the nine victims, who he also dismembered in his apartment near Tokyo.

His execution was the first use of capital punishment in the country in nearly three years and it was carried out as calls grow to abolish the measure in Japan since the acquittal of the world’s longest-serving death-row inmate Iwao Hakamada last year.

He was freed after 56 years on death row, following a retrial which heard police had falsified and planted evidence against him over the 1966 murders of his boss, wife and two children.

Eight of Shiraishi’s victims were women, including teenagers, who he killed after raping them. He also killed a boyfriend of one of the women to silence him.

Police arrested him in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases in his apartment.

Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes.

Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi’s hanging, said he made the decision after careful examination, taking into account the convict’s “extremely selfish” motive for crimes that “caused great shock and unrest to society”.

“It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed,” Mr Suzuki said.

There are currently 105 death row inmates in Japan, he added.