President Donald Trump told an NBC interviewer on Wednesday that Kevin Warsh would not have been his pick to lead the Federal Reserve had Warsh expressed a desire to raise interest rates.
Trump said he believes the Federal Reserve is “in theory” an “independent body,” and he suggested the central bank should follow his lead because he thinks he knows the economy “better than almost anybody.”
The president spoke with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas in an extensive interview, and he said there was “not much” doubt in his mind that interest rates would soon be lowered. Llamas pressed the president about how he could be so sure, and Trump replied: “I just think they’re going to be lowered. I mean, they should be lower.”
Trump said in the interview:
“We’re way high, OK? We’re way high in interest. We have now, with me and with all the money, I’m — I’ve always been good at money — and with all the money coming into our country, we’re a rich country again. We have debt, but we also have growth, and the growth will soon make the debt look very small.”
“Because there’s — the greatest way — you have two ways,” Trump continued. “You can cut, cut, cut, and we do that anyway, and we did that. You know, we got rid of hundreds of thousands of federal workers. And those workers went out and got themselves jobs in the free enterprise system. And you know what? That’s called making America great again.”
Trump said, “We had 10 workers in the federal government for every single job. When the Democrats go in, they hire. I could right now give you the best employment numbers in history. You know what I do? Go out and hire 2 million people, put ’em in the federal government. I do the opposite.”
Warsh Tapped to Replace Jerome Powell in May
Llamas asked Trump whether Warsh, a former member of the Fed’s board of governors whom Trump tapped to be the central bank’s next chair, understands that he wants him to lower interest rates.
“I think he does, but I think he wants to anyway,” Trump said. “I mean, if he came in and said, ‘I want to raise them …’
“If he said that, he wouldn’t have gotten the job?” Llamas interjected.
“He would not have gotten the job,” Trump responded. “No.”
Asked about whether he believes the chairman of the Federal Reserve answers to the president or heads an independent body, Trump said: “Well, I mean, in theory it’s an independent body.”
“But I think, you know, I’m a smart guy,” he continued. “I know the economy better than almost everybody.”
Warsh, if confirmed by the Senate, will replace the current Chair, Jerome Powell, whose term as Chair expired in May.
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