Why Jerome Powell — not Trump — will decide when the Fed chief steps down

MoneyWatch Why Jerome Powell — not Trump — will decide when the Federal Reserve chief exits the scene .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Aimee Picchi Aimee Picchi Associate Managing Editor, MoneyWatch Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports. Read Full Bio Aimee Picchi April 15, 2026 / 2:51 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google President Trump's latest threat to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell could put them on a collision course when the latter's term as head of the central bank ends on May 15.In an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday,  Mr. Trump said he would dismiss Powell if the policymaker stuck to his pledge of staying on as a Fed governor as long as the Department of Justice continues a criminal probe into ongoing building renovations at the Fed. Powell has said the investigation is intended to pressure him into supporting lower interest rates or resigning. "Then I'll have to fire him, OK, if he's not leaving on time, I've held back firing him," Mr. Trump told Bartiromo. I've wanted to fire him. But I hate to be controversial."Mr. Trump's comment follows a string of previous threats he's made about removing Powell, with the president citing dissatisfaction with the Fed's pace of interest rate cuts, which he has characterized as too slow. But ousting Powell would be legally dubious, Dan Urman, director of the law and public policy minor at Northeastern University, told CBS News."As the law currently stands, it is not legal for President Trump to fire Powell at any point — as chair or as governor — unless the firing is 'for cause,'" he said. "The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 says the Federal Board of Governors can only b...