Trump: Never Had a Plan to Fire Powell, All Media Spread Fake News

BlockBeats News, April 23rd, according to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. President Trump said this week that he never had a plan to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and accused the media of spreading false information.

However, within the White House, some senior officials took Trump's recent public suggestion to fire Powell seriously. According to people familiar with the matter, as Trump's criticism of the Fed Chairman escalated last week, White House lawyers privately reviewed legal options to try to remove Powell.

Earlier this week, when Trump told his senior aides that he would not attempt to remove Powell, these discussions came to an abrupt halt. These people said that at the intervention of Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Ross, Trump made this decision. They warned Trump that such an action could trigger far-reaching market turmoil and a messy legal battle. One of them said that Ross also told the President that firing the Fed Chairman would likely not lead to any actual changes in interest rates, as other members of the Fed committee would likely pursue monetary policies similar to Powell's. (FX168)