A Trump administration official suggested on Friday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell might be thinking about resigning.
Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a strong critic of Powell, has supported President Donald Trump’s push to get the central bank to lower interest rates. Pulte posted a statement on X and the agency’s website, mentioning unconfirmed reports that Powell plans to step down.
“I’m encouraged by reports that Jerome Powell is considering resigning. I think this will be the right decision for America, and the economy will boom,” Pulte said.
If Powell retires, experts say the economy could benefit in big ways. A new Fed chair might cut interest rates, making it easier and cheaper for people to borrow money for homes, cars, or starting businesses. This could spark more spending, create jobs, and help the housing market recover faster, leading to overall economic growth.
It’s not clear where Pulte got this information, and no other public details are available right now.
FOX Business contacted the Federal Reserve about Pulte’s statement. A Fed spokesperson refused to comment and pointed to Powell’s many statements that he plans to finish his full term.
Powell’s time as Fed chair ends on May 15, 2026, but his role on the central bank’s board of governors lasts until January 31, 2028. He hasn’t said if he wants to stay on after his chair position ends.
Pulte, who was approved for his job by the Senate in March, has often demanded on social media that Powell resign or be investigated for how he handles money policy and other issues. In late May, Pulte posted that Powell “needs to lower interest rates” and said the “housing market would be in much better shape if Chairman Powell does this.”
He started pushing for Powell’s resignation in mid-June, after Fed leaders decided not to cut rates and kept the main federal funds rate the same for the fourth meeting in a row. Since then, Pulte has shared criticisms of Powell and calls for him to quit almost every day.
Last week, Pulte urged Congress to look into Powell for “his political bias, and his deceptive testimony, which is enough to be removed ‘for cause.'” He added that Powell mishandled the Fed’s headquarters renovation project and said it’s “nothing short of malfeasance and is worthy of ‘for cause.’”
President Trump, who picked Powell for the job in 2017, has talked openly about firing him, but federal law says he can only be removed for a good reason.
Pulte’s attacks come right after Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, sent a letter to the Fed on Thursday. Vought called the renovation an “ostentatious overhaul” and said Powell’s recent comments on it “raises serious questions” about whether it follows the design plans given to the National Capital Planning Commission.
This week, during a Cabinet meeting open to reporters, Trump was asked about claims that Powell lied to Congress. Trump again said Powell should quit so he could put in a new chair who would lower interest rates.
“Well, then he should resign immediately. We should get somebody in there that’s going to lower interest rates,” Trump replied. “It’s OK with me, I think he’s terrible.”
Lowering interest rates under a new leader could supercharge the economy by encouraging more investment and consumer spending, reducing unemployment, and helping inflation stay in check without hurting growth.
The Federal Reserve’s plan to renovate its two main office buildings was first estimated at $1.9 billion in 2019. But costs jumped to nearly $2.5 billion because of big rises in prices for wood, steel, cement, and other building materials, according to budget documents cited in a 2023 Wall Street Journal report.
Federal law gives the central bank full power to build, maintain, expand, or remodel its facilities, and it has complete control over those buildings and what’s inside.
At a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing on money policy, Chairman Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, slammed the renovation project. He focused on the design features mentioned in Vought’s letter, saying in his opening remarks that the renovations “feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles than a public institution.”
Later in the hearing, Powell was asked about the project and said the Fed “will provide a much more detailed response” and that “we do take seriously our responsibility as stewards of the public’s money, and the other thing I would start with is no one wants to do a major renovation of a historic building during their term in office. Much prefer to leave that to your successors, and this is a great example why – let alone two historic buildings.”
“I would also say that the media reports that you accurately quoted – they’re misleading and inaccurate in many, many respects,” Powell said. “I would just point to there’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble – we took down the old marble, we’re putting it back up, we’ll have to use new marble where some of the old marble broke.”
“There’s no special elevators, there’s just old elevators that have been there. There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens,” Powell said. “All of the sort of inflammatory things that the media carried are either not in the current plan or just inaccurate.”
“Notwithstanding that, the cost overruns are what they are,” Powell started to elaborate before Scott cut him off, citing the panel’s five-minute rule for each senator’s questioning. The Senate Banking Committee later said the Fed is organizing a staff briefing on the subject.
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