Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has told people close to him that he is unhappy with with the Department of Justice’s incendiary prosecution against Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, according to reports.
Powell sparked outrage from both Democrats and Republicans on Sunday evening when he confirmed that the Trump administration had opened a criminal investigation into his past testimony before the U.S. Senate.
In an unprecedented video address, Powell claimed these charges were just a pretext for punishing his refusal to bend to President Trump’s personal whims — even as Trump himself claimed to know nothing about the entire affair.
Now, it seems that Trump’s own Treasury secretary is worried that the move could unsettle financial markets.
“The secretary isn’t happy, and he let the president know,” one inside source told Axios.
The outlet reported that Bessent told Trump late on Sunday night that the investigation had “made a mess” and could be bad for the economy.
CNN echoed that report, citing a source with knowledge of the matter. The Independent has asked the Treasury for comment.
The Federal Reserve is the United States’s central bank, regulating the printing of new dollars and setting the interest rates on government-backed financial instruments such as Treasury bills.
Although its board of governors is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the Fed’s month-to-month decisions have been legally independent of both branches of government since at least 1951 — under the theory that monetary policy should be in the hands of financial experts who are empowered to make unpopular decisions for the good of the wider economy.
But Trump, who first nominated Powell back in 2017, has repeatedly pressured him over the past year to lower interest rates and cut the price of borrowing, publicly saying he would “love to fire his a**.”
“This unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure,” said Powell in his video.
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”
