{"id":534405,"date":"2026-03-20T08:21:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534405\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T08:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:21:31","slug":"powell-says-he-will-remain-federal-reserve-chair-if-kevin-warsh-isnt-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534405\/","title":{"rendered":"Powell says he will remain Federal Reserve chair if Kevin Warsh isn’t confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump has for months<\/a> wanted to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. But instead, an investigation<\/a> by one of his own officials could end up extending Powell\u2019s time at the top of the central bank even after his term formally ends May 15. <\/p>\n

Trump has nominated former Fed official Kevin Warsh<\/a> to succeed Powell. Yet Warsh\u2019s confirmation has been delayed<\/a> by a Justice Department investigation into brief comments Powell made before the Senate Banking Committee last June about the Fed\u2019s building renovation<\/a>. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, has said he won\u2019t vote to confirm any Fed nominees until the investigation is dropped. <\/p>\n

With all Democrats on the committee also opposed to moving forward, Tillis\u2019 stance has effectively blocked the committee from advancing Warsh\u2019s nomination. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Powell said he would<\/a> remain as chair of the Fed\u2019s interest rate-setting committee after his term ends if no successor has been confirmed. And he said he could stay even longer if the investigation continues. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over, with transparency and finality,\u201d Powell told reporters. <\/p>\n

In addition to his term as chair, Powell is a member of the Fed\u2019s seven-person governing board until January 2028. Chairs typically step off the board<\/a> completely when they are no longer chair, but Powell could remain on the board and deny Trump the opportunity to fill another seat. <\/p>\n

Powell declined on Wednesday to say whether he would step down even after the investigation is completed. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have not made that decision yet,\u201d he said. \u201cI will make that decision based on what I think is best for the institution and the people we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an ironic twist of events given Trump\u2019s well-documented ire<\/a> toward Powell, and reflects the success the Fed is having in protecting its independence through the courts<\/a> and in Congress<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Separately, on Thursday the JFK Library Foundation said it would present the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award to Powell on May 31. <\/p>\n

Powell is being awarded for \u201cprotecting the independence of the Federal Reserve … despite years of personal attacks and threats from the highest levels of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

By resisting the pressure, Powell \u201csafeguarded one of the country\u2019s most essential apolitical institutions,\u201d the foundation said. <\/p>\n

Last week, the DOJ investigation into Powell was severely hobbled<\/a> last week when a federal court threw out two subpoenas issued by Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, that sought information from the Fed about its $2.5 billion building renovation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is abundant evidence that the subpoenas\u2019 dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will,\u201d U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote. <\/p>\n

Pirro said last week that she would appeal the decision and was unconcerned with any delays it would cause in Warsh\u2019s ability to take over from Powell. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know who he is,\u201d Pirro said of Warsh. \u201cPolitics is not the lane I\u2019m in right now. … We are focused on the law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump has for months wanted to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,3505,12,109,8877,793,36760,235412,73532,2938,28030,45588,2221,111,9287,10585,795],"class_list":["post-534405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-economic-policy","tag-federal-reserve-system","tag-general-news","tag-government-appointments-and-nominations","tag-james-boasberg","tag-jeanine-pirro","tag-jerome-powell","tag-john-f-kennedy","tag-kevin-warsh","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-politics","tag-thom-tillis","tag-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}