Trump administration suggests it's not seeking power over the Federal Reserve
Trump administration suggests it's not seeking power over the Federal Reserve
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What we know now about the Trump agenda and if it can be slowed down
It has delighted supporters and alarmed opposition, but can the Trump agenda overcome Congress and legal challenges? Here is what we know now.
A lawyer for the Trump administration said Friday that its attempts to expand the president's power to fire people may not extend to the ability to fire the head of the Federal Reserve Board.
"Nothing that we do here dictates what happens to the Fed, full stop," Harry Graver, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, said Friday under questioning from judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Trump fired members of National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, which handle worker complaints in the private and public sectors, despite laws protecting their jobs while they serve set terms. The Trump administration says those protections are unconstitutional.
The Trump administration has already asked the Supreme Court to take up the case promptly, causing concern over whether the head of the Federal Reserve Board, who has similar job protections, could be at risk should the Supreme Court rule in the administration's favor.
Trump has a long history of attacking Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump said in April that Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough!" and called Powell "a major loser." Trump backed off days later as financial markets went into a frenzy, but lashed out again this month after Powell declined to cut interest rates.
"The Federal Reserve I think presents a distinct constitutional question not before this court," Graver told the judges, who said they have received multiple arguments from outside parties saying the case affects the central bank.
Judge Florence Pan pressed Graver to explain why the Federal Reserve should be carved out as an exception to boards Trump should have control over, but the labor boards should not.
"With respect to monetary policy, the core function of the Fed, we have not taken a position, because it's a hard historical question," Graver said.
Humphreys Executor: How Trump's firings could expand presidential power
Earlier in the hearing, Graver made the administration's argument that any entity that exercises executive power must be answerable to the president, because he is answerable to the people. The legal argument was a key underlying principle within Project 2025, which Democrats argued created too much centralized power.
"The way in which the executive branch should work turns on accountability," Graver said. "It is a unitary, energetic executive that answers to the people."
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