Trump threatens to fire Powell if he doesn't exit Fed

Josh Wingrove and Skylar Woodhouse, Bloomberg News on Apr 15, 2026

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President Donald Trump said he would fire Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve if he does not leave that post “in time,” and insisted that the Justice Department investigation into the central bank leader would continue.

“I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time. I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business.

“I want to be uncontroversial. But he will be fired,” he said in the interview that aired Wednesday.

Powell’s stint as the leader of the central bank expires in May, but his term on the Board of Governors does not end until 2028.

Powell has said that if his successor is not confirmed before his term as chair ends in May, he would serve as chair pro tempore. The Fed has conferred that temporary designation in the past on a board member to lead the institution when the chair role was vacant. It’s not immediately clear whether Trump has the authority to dismiss Powell from that role.

Trump shrugged off Sen. Thom Tillis’ pledge to block Kevin Warsh’s confirmation as the next chair until the Justice Department probe is concluded, and signaled he would rather let Powell stay on as a board member than drop the probe.

“I know he said what he said, and maybe it’s true, in which case I’ll have to live with it, but not as chairman,” Trump said.

Trump allies have hoped that Powell would also resign his board seat when his time leading the central bank comes to a close this spring. Powell, however, has said he has “no intention” of resigning from the board until the Trump administration’s investigation by the Department of Justice into a building renovation project is “well and truly over.”

But in the interview, Trump suggested he had no plan to end the probe.

“Whether it’s incompetence, corruption or both, I think you have to find out. I really do,” he said.

Tillis, a key Republican swing voter on the banking committee, has praised Warsh but insists he will block confirmation until the DOJ probe is resolved, calling the investigation a threat to the Fed’s independence.

That sets up a potential showdown between Trump and Powell in the coming weeks that would likely morph into a legal battle testing the limits of Trump’s power. The president has also sought to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook, a case which has gone to the Supreme Court and has yet to be decided.

Despite Tillis’ stance, the Senate Banking Committee has scheduled an April 21 confirmation hearing for Warsh.

U.S. prosecutors made a surprise visit to the Fed’s offices in Washington Tuesday, but were denied entry to the site.