Trump's grudge against the Fed's Jerome Powell
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Firing Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, has long been on President Donald Trump’s wish list. Despite nominating Powell to run the country’s central bank in his first term, Trump might be gearing up to fire Powell at any moment.
Ousting Powell could add to an already precarious economic situation, fueled in part by Trump’s large cuts to the federal workforce and threat of tariffs against major trading partners.
Today on “Post Reports,” host Colby Itkowitz sits down with reporter Andrew Ackerman, who covers the Federal Reserve, financial regulation and consumer financial protection for The Post.
Today’s episode was produced by Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval and edited by Reena Flores. It was mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Jen Liberto.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | President Donald Trump is seriously weighing something that no president has ever done before. |
| 0:07.4 | He wants to fire the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell. |
| 0:11.0 | Trump's been going back and forth on this. |
| 0:15.0 | On Wednesday, he denied that he was considering kicking Powell out. |
| 0:19.0 | But if he did, it's a move that has major |
| 0:22.0 | repercussions for the U.S. economy. It's important because the Fed was set up to be independent |
| 0:26.5 | of the White House and from lawmakers. It's designed to be able to make decisions on its own |
| 0:32.0 | based on economic data and not by politicians who are always going to want lower interest |
| 0:36.9 | rates to juice the economy. |
| 0:38.8 | Andrew Ackerman is an economics reporter for The Post. |
| 0:41.3 | He's been following this unfolding drama between Trump and the Fed chair. |
| 0:45.9 | Andrew said they're budding heads on a key part of the Fed's job. |
| 0:49.7 | And that's whether to raise interest rates. |
| 0:52.1 | Trump wants them lowered, but the Fed says not so fast. |
| 0:58.4 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:02.3 | I'm Kolby Ekowitz. It's Wednesday, July 16th. |
| 1:05.8 | Today, I talk with Andrew about Trump's escalating threats to the Federal Reserve. |
| 1:10.9 | He explains what Trump wants and why the Fed has pushed back so hard. |
| 1:15.7 | And later in the show, we'll talk about why these threats are just the tip of the iceberg |
| 1:19.7 | when it comes to worries about the U.S. economy. |
| 1:32.4 | Andrew, hey, thanks for being here. You're welcome. |
| 1:33.3 | Thanks so much for having me. |
... |
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