President Trump slammed Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday, calling him a “political hack” and questioning his intelligence, after he refused to cut interest rates for the fifth time since December on Wednesday.
On the same day that Powell and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) refused to cut rates, new GDP data came out showing 3% growth, which President Trump hailed as “WAY BETTER THAN EXPECTED.” Still, despite this growth, along with hundreds of billions of dollars in new business investment and hundreds of billions of dollars in tariff revenues into the United States, Powell and the FOMC decided to maintain interest rates at the current level.
Conversely, Powell cut interest rates three consecutive times before the 2024 election, with a large .5% cut in September, and at the end of Biden’s term, despite inflation being above the Fed’s targeted 2%. “Didn’t work out too well for them, but he did lower them pretty substantially just prior to the election,” Trump said.
Aurel Hizmo, who served as a Principal Economist at the Fed under Powell, previously told an undercover journalist, Powell said he wants to go down in history as “someone who held the line against Trump.”
Trump also took shots at Powell over Federal Reserve building renovations, which ballooned in cost from $1.9 billion to more than $2.5 billion. During a rare presidential visit to the Federal Reserve Headquarters last week, Trump confronted Powell on the actual cost of the renovation, which is $3.1 billion or more when previous additions are accounted for.
Powell said he does not expect additional cost overruns during the years long continuation of his project, but “we’re ready for them,” and “we have a little bit of a reserve that we may use.”
WATCH: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Tries to Argue with Trump when Confronted on Cost of Federal Reserve Headquarters Renovation
“[He’s] way over budget, has no idea what he’s doing, and I would say he’s probably good at that compared to what he does with interest rates,” Trump said on Thursday.
Turning Point Frontlines reporter Monica Baldwin asked President Trump if he thinks Powell is playing politics, and Trump agreed.
“He’s a political hack, not very good. He’s not a smart guy,” Trump told reporters.
WATCH:
Baldwin: Fed Chair Jerome Powell is not lowering interest rates again, and many people have said that he’s playing politics with the futures of millions of Americans
Trump: Well, he is. We call him Too Late. He’s too late. It’s his new nickname, Too Late Powell. He’s terrible, the Federal Reserve Chairman. Not only that, he’s building a building. He’s at $2.9 billion. It’s actually $3.1 if you include other areas that are essentially the same thing— way over budget, has no idea what he’s doing, and I would say he’s probably good at that compared to what he does with interest rates.
But, you know, we have him there, and it was a mistake. I put him in, and then Biden extended him. And Biden only extended him because he knew I couldn’t stand him, and that turned out to be not a good thing for Biden. Although, he did lower interest rates just prior to the election– didn’t work out too well for them, but he did lower them pretty substantially just prior to the election. He’s a political hack, not very good. He’s not a smart guy!
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