Trump Hints at Early Nomination for Powell's Successor: "Narrowed Down to Three or Four"

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on August 13 (local time) that he has narrowed down the candidates for the next chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed) to "three or four people."

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Speaking to reporters at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. that day, President Trump said, "I plan to nominate the new chair a little earlier than has been customary in the past," making this statement.

President Trump has openly criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not accepting his calls for interest rate cuts. Although he has said he would allow Powell to serve out his term as chair, which runs until May 2026, he has consistently urged him to resign voluntarily. The search for a successor is currently being led by Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. It is reported that after Secretary Besant narrows down the final candidates and reports to President Trump, the president will make the final announcement of the chair nominee.

On this day as well, President Trump highlighted that the U.S. is paying $360 billion annually in interest on Treasury bonds for every 1 percentage point in interest rates, and pressured the Fed by saying, "I think we should lower (the benchmark rate) by three to four percentage points." The current U.S. benchmark interest rate stands at 4.25-4.50%, and there are expectations that the Fed may cut rates at the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for September 16-17.

Regarding his warning posted the previous day on the social media platform Truth Social-that he was considering allowing a large-scale lawsuit against Powell due to "the terrible and extremely incompetent manner in which Powell managed the construction of the Fed building"-President Trump argued that some projects, such as basement construction and ceiling repairs, were unnecessary. He said the basement construction was "the most worthless thing," and criticized the ceiling repairs by saying, "It could have been fixed for thousands of dollars, but they spent tens of millions." He went on to say of Chair Powell, "He did everything wrong. It was too late," adding, "We call him Jerome 'Too Late' Powell."

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