Elizabeth Warren Tells CNN Trump ‘Will Bring Down US Financial Markets’ If He Ousts Powell

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) warned that President Donald Trump “will bring down the U.S. financial markets” if he ousts Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — whom Trump appointed to the post.

Trump has habitually attacked Powell and constantly pressured him to lower interest rates. He has also recently floated his removal over claims about a lavish renovation of the Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC.

On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins,

COLLINS: So, you’re saying this notion, because they’ve been renovating that building since 2021–

WARREN: Yes.

COLLINS: –it’s over-budget. I mean, you’re saying there’s legitimate concerns about that, but not enough to warrant the firing of the Fed chair?

WARREN: Look, let’s take a look. Obviously, you always want to look at the information. I push for full transparency.

But Donald Trump can’t say over and over and over and over, I want to fire him. I want to fire him. I want to fire him. Can’t somebody figure out how to fire him? And then, suddenly say, I’m really interested in seeing the receipts for painting and plumbing in the repairs of a 90-year-old building. He’s looking, it would appear, that he is looking for a pretext to get rid of Jerome Powell.

And I just want to remind you here why this matters. The President has the capacity to fire everybody in his Cabinet. That’s the setup. But he does not have the legal authority to fire the Chairman of the Fed. The Fed is supposed to be independent. The terms run for five years. They don’t run concurrency with — concurrent with presidential terms.

And the idea is that the Fed will be an economist, a banker, somebody who will look at the hard data, and try to make the best decisions that he or she possibly can, about monetary policy and about regulatory oversight. There is insulation for a reason.

And ultimately, around the world, people depend on the independence of the Fed. And you know how I know that? Because the last time that Donald Trump flirted very aggressively with firing Jerome Powell, the bond market tanked.

And the reason for that is because that was all the people — what the bond market is really about is people around the world, saying, If things get really scary, do we go to the United States as a place to protect our money? And what investors were saying is, Not the United States, because Donald Trump wants control of the Fed.

So, this isn’t about whether interest rates should go up or should go down. This isn’t about whether there should be more regulation or less regulation of the bank. This is about whether or not Donald Trump gets to control the Fed, the same way he controls every other part of government. And the answer here is no, he does not. And if he tries, he will bring down the U.S. financial markets.

COLLINS: You think it will bring down the U.S. financial markets if he–

WARREN: Yes.

COLLINS: –if he ousts Jay Powell?

WARREN: Yes, I do. I do.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.