Fed Chair Jerome Powell dodges questions on criminal probe, his future but has advice for his successor
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stuck mostly to form on Wednesday, deflecting questions from the press about both his future at the central bank and a criminal probe launched by the Trump administration, but he did offer some candid advice to whoever next fills his shoes.“Stay out of elected politics, don’t get pulled into elected politics.Don’t do it,” Powell said at his regular press conference following the latest Fed monetary policy meeting.This press conference, though, was anything but the typical back-and-forth over the outlook for the economy and interest rates, as Powell was peppered with questions about a Department of Justice investigation he revealed in an extraordinary video statement on Jan.
11.Avoiding politics, though, doesn’t mean avoiding elected officials, he said.“Our window into democratic accountability is Congress, and it’s not a passive burden for us to go to Congress and talk to people, it’s an affirmative regular obligation,” said Powell, who has made developing expansive relationships on Capitol Hill a priority over his eight years at the helm of the Fed.“If you want democratic legitimacy, you earn it by your interactions with our elected overseers.”Still, Powell wouldn’t bite on repeated requests by reporters to elaborate on his video statement or to declare his intentions after his term as chair ends in May.
His separate board seat term does not expire for two more years.“I really, once again, have nothing for you on that today,” Powell said, a turn of phrase he would repeat several times over a more-than-45-minute press conference as reporters sought to draw him out about the DOJ probe into cost overruns for a renovation of the central bank’s headquarters and whether he plans to stay on at the Fed after his term as chair ends.“There’s a time and place for these questions.”Instead, Powell said when it comes to his comments Wednesday, “this is really about the press conference and the economy...