President Donald Trump kept up his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell as rumors swirl about his possible ouster.
The president hailed May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showing that his tariffs had not increased inflation quite as much as investors had feared, rising only 0.1 percent for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4 percent.
"CPI just out," Trump posted on Truth Social in all-capital letters. "Great numbers! Fed should lower one full point. Would pay much less interest on debt coming due. So important!!!"
Trump has been publicly pressuring Powell, whom he appointed in 2017, to lower interest rates to ease inflation, but the central bank and its leader are independent from the White House, where some of the president's advisers are reportedly urging him to push out the chairman and replace him with treasury secretary Scott Bessent.
"A growing chorus of advisers inside and outside the Trump administration are pushing another name to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent," Bloomberg reported.
But the president by law cannot remove the Fed chair without cause or legal basis, including misconduct or impropriety, and any replacement would require confirmation by the U.S. Senate.