Before 20 January 2026, will the US president purport to terminate Jerome Powell as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Chair of the Fed)?
Closing Jan 20, 2026 08:01AM UTC
Jerome Powell has been the Chair of the Fed since 2018 and his current term as Chair is scheduled to end in May 2026 (Federal Reserve). However, President Trump has repeatedly voiced his frustration with Powell and the Fed (Politico, NPR, Yahoo [Reuters]). Whether the US president has the authority to fire the Chair of the Fed is a question of some debate (Yahoo [Bloomberg], USA Today, Axios). The question is only concerned with the president claiming to terminate the Chair of the Fed, so any subsequent appeals or judicial proceedings are immaterial. A putative termination as Chair, but not completely from the Board of Governors, will count. A social media post by the president alone must be corroborated by credible, open-source reporting to count.
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