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Hassett presses Powell to leave the Fed board as Justice Department closes its inquiry

The White House's top economic adviser said it is time for Jerome Powell to give up his remaining seat on the Federal Reserve Board.

Assembled by Claude from 6 sources at 6 outlets · Tuesday, October 6, 2026, Morning edition, 10:34 AM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council and President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser, called on former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to move on from the Fed board theedgesingapore.commoneycontrol.com. Hassett said it is time for Powell to leave and described his extended tenure as unprecedented foxbusiness.comfinance.biggo.com. Fox Business reported that Hassett framed the departure as a way to preserve Fed independence foxbusiness.com.

The legal pressure on Powell eased in the same week. The Justice Department said on Friday that its findings did not justify reopening a criminal investigation into Powell analyticsinsight.net. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Bloomberg TV that the department will not reopen the related probe bankingdive.com.

Why it matters to investors

The request concerns a seat, not a chairmanship. Powell is the former chair theedgesingapore.comfinance.biggo.com, so what is at issue is whether a past chair keeps serving out a governor's term while the administration presses him to go foxbusiness.com. Markets price central-bank independence partly through how secure board seats are from political pressure, which is the frame Hassett himself invoked foxbusiness.com.

The timing compounds that. Hassett spoke while the Fed was weighing another rate increase analyticsinsight.net, so the request arrived in the middle of a live policy decision rather than between meetings. Hassett also said he disagreed with the rate increase the Fed had already delivered finance.biggo.com, putting the administration on the record against the committee's direction.

There is also a sequencing point. The call to resign came after the Justice Department had closed the criminal matter rather than while it was open bankingdive.comanalyticsinsight.net, so the argument being made in public is about tenure and precedent foxbusiness.comfinance.biggo.com rather than about any legal finding.

What to watch

Hassett's remarks drew a line between the current chair and the former one. He referred to how Chairman Kevin Warsh voted with colleagues on the committee moneycontrol.com, which is a different argument from the one about Powell's seat. Whether the administration extends its criticism to the sitting chair is the question that matters most for policy expectations moneycontrol.com.

On the legal track, the Justice Department has now declined twice to take the matter further bankingdive.comanalyticsinsight.net. Watch whether that settles the issue or whether the renovation findings resurface in another forum bankingdive.comanalyticsinsight.net, and watch whether Powell responds to the call to resign theedgesingapore.com.

Hassett's own position on policy is part of the record now. He said he disagreed with the rate increase the committee delivered finance.biggo.com while simultaneously describing his request as a defence of Fed independence foxbusiness.com. Those two statements are what markets will have to reconcile when the administration comments on the next decision analyticsinsight.net.

Sources

  1. bankingdive.com: DOJ won't reopen Powell probe - Banking Dive (2026-10-05)
  2. analyticsinsight.net: Trump Adviser Wants Powell Out as Fed Weighs Another Rate Increase - Analytics Insight (2026-10-05)
  3. theedgesingapore.com: Trump aide Hassett says Powell should 'move on' from Fed board - The Edge Singapore (2026-10-05)
  4. foxbusiness.com: Kevin Hassett says Powell should 'move on' to preserve Fed independence | Fox Business (2026-10-05)
  5. finance.biggo.com: Hassett Urges Powell to Exit Fed Board, Calling Extended Stay Unprecedented (2026-10-05)
  6. moneycontrol.com: Trump aide Kevin Hassett says Powell should 'move on' from Fed board - Moneycontrol.com (2026-10-04)