Biden retains confidence in Powell despite Fed trading scandal
BNN Bloomberg
President Joe Biden retains confidence in Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a White House spokeswoman said -- despite Senator Elizabeth Warren assailing the central bank and its leader earlier Tuesday.
U.S. President Joe Biden said that he has confidence in Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, speaking hours after fellow Democrat Elizabeth Warren assailed the central bank and its leader on the floor of the Senate and in multiple televised interviews Tuesday.
“First of all, yes,” Biden said on a visit to Michigan when asked by a reporter about confidence in the Fed’s integrity and in Powell.
Warren said in a Senate floor speech Tuesday morning that Powell had “failed as a leader” following revelations that top Fed officials have been actively trading securities during the pandemic crisis. The transactions raise “legitimate questions about conflicts of interest and insider trading,” the progressive Democrat from Massachusetts said.
She later said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that Powell had been lax in his conduct of financial oversight, with stress-tests performed on banks that were “worse” than open-book exams.
A White House deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, had earlier said, “Yes, he does have confidence in Powell at this time,” speaking to reporters traveling with the president aboard Air Force One.
