Trump: I'll fire Fed Chair Powell if he stays past term

[0:00] on may 15th jerome powell's term as fed chairman is set to expire now powell has promised to stay [0:06] on the job as chairman pro tem until a successor is confirmed saying that is what the law calls for [0:13] but in a new interview that aired today on fox business president donald trump was asked what [0:17] would happen if powell does stay i don't have to fire him okay if he's not leaving on time i've [0:25] held back firing him i've wanted to fire him but i hate to be controversial you know it is not clear [0:34] whether trump has the authority to fire powell he's considered it and been dissuaded from doing so [0:39] because of that lack of authority many times in the past and powell also has the option to remain [0:45] on the fed board because his chairmanship ends in may but his fed governor's seat actually isn't up [0:50] until 2028. now if that wasn't complicated enough here's what really makes it all complicated the [0:55] justice department's criminal investigation into powell is centered on accusations that he lied to [1:02] congress last year about the fed's 2.5 billion dollar renovation of its headquarters it followed trump's [1:08] repeated criticism of powell and powell has strongly rebuked the investigation calling it politicized [1:14] earlier this month a federal judge blocked subpoenas from the justice department saying the investigation [1:19] appeared to be a political vendetta that however has not stopped the justice department from trying to [1:25] keep the probe going in fact just yesterday two federal prosecutors showed up at the fed's [1:30] headquarters asking for a tour of the renovation site the building contractor turned them away [1:35] referring them to fed attorneys now republican senator tom tillis of north carolina posted a picture of [1:41] the three stooges and wrote the u.s attorney's office for dc at the crime scene and while that's very [1:47] interesting because it's a republican criticizing the trump administration in real time what makes it far more [1:53] interesting is tillis has said if the investigation is not dropped he will hold up the confirmation of [1:59] kevin warsh trump's replacement for powell today senate majority leader john thune appears to be able to [2:06] count and know that without tillis this can't go anywhere this is what he told cnn i have to deal to deal [2:16] with tillis and uh and i think it's in everybody's best interest to wrap up the investigation let's bring [2:24] in the panel cnn chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid former deputy assistant attorney general [2:28] tom dupree and former federal prosecutor brendan blue founder of the public integrity project [2:33] okay paula yes this investigation uh subpoenas were quashed janine pierrot who's running it from the dc [2:43] u.s attorney's office said they're going to appeal they want to keep this going obviously two of her [2:46] people showed up at the fed yesterday unsuccessfully what's happening here look this investigation is [2:51] ongoing and it will continue because there's an open attorney general seat currently now it's [2:56] being occupied by acting attorney general todd blanche but there are a few folks who are hoping [3:00] he's just kind of keeping it warm that they too might be considered engineer pierrot is one of those [3:05] people who appears at least to maybe be auditioning for that job and what's interesting about those [3:11] subpoenas is the day they were quashed usually if a judge quashes your subpoenas maybe you're a little [3:16] embarrassed but you could always appeal the woman held a press conference and at the time i called it [3:21] an audition for the job of attorney general pam bondi was still in that post but she's proving [3:26] to the boss to the president that she is going to fight obviously he is upset with jerome powell this [3:31] is the kind of investigation that he wants to see even if it won't ultimately be successful even if [3:36] it's criticized as being clearly political this will continue because this is how you get promoted in [3:42] the trump administration you unflinchingly we were on air together after that press conference and [3:47] that was the first thing you went to and i was like all right covered doj for a decade i'm just [3:52] those are stuff she's just saying saying what is very obviously the case tom i think beyond the like [3:59] biggest own goal in the history of ever like kevin warsh has i want to be very clear about this kevin [4:04] warsh has a majority of republican support to be confirmed and he could be confirmed before powell's [4:10] term is up if this investigation goes away i'm trying to think through why there isn't somebody or [4:16] something causing the administration to say hey let's let's let this one go yeah there may be wiser [4:22] heads cooler heads working behind the scene to try to reach some sort of resolution because to your [4:26] point it does seem like there would be a pathway for allowing warsh to come in take over from powell [4:30] and the investment goes investigation goes away and everything is wrapped up but i do think that's [4:34] what's driving this is the president has made abundantly clear that he does not want to abandon this [4:39] potential prosecution of powell that was the reason pam bondi got fired that was a message that resonated [4:45] loud and clear throughout the justice department that if you want to keep your job if you want to [4:49] ascend to a new job you've got to get results and in president trump's ledger getting results means [4:54] achieving the prosecution of his political enemies you know what's another result is having kevin warsh's [5:01] fed chair on may 16th which they could get if they dropped the prosecution i feel like i just keep [5:09] saying this i'm like this has someone has to be connecting these dots here one of the questions that i've [5:14] had is look there's a supreme case uh being considered right now with lisa cook a fed governor who the [5:19] president tried to fire we watched the arguments together or listen to the arguments together uh [5:25] live when they happened the conservative justices were just as skeptical i think of [5:29] the administration's uh view on this as the uh democratic appointees were the authority to fire the [5:36] fed chair does he have it no so you know as you said they have already tried this as a test run and trying to [5:43] fire lisa cook the statute is very clear you need to be fired for cause and that cause needs to be [5:48] related to what your actual job responsibilities are there's absolutely nothing in this investigation [5:54] so far that has revealed that jerome powell is in any way derelict in his duties if i could just add [5:59] one thing as a former prosecutor here you know this is inept on so many levels you know we've touched [6:05] on some of these but one of the last people that you want at the site of an investigation typically [6:10] is an actual prosecutor what you normally want is the fbi to be there and actually having janine pirro [6:16] send doj a usa's assistant u.s attorneys instead of fbi agents or not only fbi agents means that [6:23] those prosecutors could become fact witnesses in any future investigation so you know any defense [6:28] lawyer is going to be calling them as a witness trying to get their emails and so forth so you know [6:32] you said this is an audition for attorney general it seems to be at least on a legal level a very inept [6:37] one and also those are the same two a usa's who were sending emails to the fed over the christmas [6:43] holiday that sparked the subpoenas because this whole thing is kind of bonkers um you mentioned [6:49] pam bondy yes switching gears a little bit here but uh the house oversight committee democrats are [6:54] pushing to hold bondy in contempt for dodging her subpoena on the uh on the epstein issue uh could [7:01] this actually get her to testify now that she's gone look it's on is she gone yes she is no longer [7:06] the attorney general uh todd blanche has moved into her office there's a little bit of transition that [7:10] has to happen but physically spiritually todd blanche is running uh the justice department and auditioning [7:16] for this job now the question here is what do you want to achieve on the hill right i was up there when [7:22] todd and pam both went to try to i think stave off this subpoena they talked to lawmakers behind closed [7:27] doors uh democrats didn't ask any questions they said they only wanted to ask questions of her in a [7:33] sworn deposition that would be released to the public republicans asked some questions but the [7:37] idea of contempt is getting sort of a mixed reaction from democrats so what do they want to do is it [7:42] probably worth it to get pam bondy to answer some questions about what the hell happened over the [7:45] last year and a half when it comes to the epstein files yeah that's probably great for the historical [7:49] record but when we talk about victims and getting answers for them about what is going on at doj what [7:55] is next what else can we get they've already told us there there aren't any current criminal open [7:59] investigations the person who could probably best answer those questions is todd blanche because he [8:03] oversaw other review of those documents he's currently in charge of the justice department [8:07] will republicans want to subpoena him it remains to be seen but at this point they need to decide what [8:13] exactly they want to do do you just want to cause trouble for the administration do you want to show [8:17] your constituents that you care about these victims and you're not going to let powerful people get [8:21] away with this you need to make a political calculus here about your next step yeah it's a really [8:25] important point i actually want to ask both of you about this because uh the justice department is moving [8:29] to dismiss the january 6 related seditious conspiracy convictions of the proud boys and the oath keepers [8:35] they are of course the only people who still face charges for the capital riot given trump pardoned [8:40] literally everybody else tom just to start with you kind of your reaction to this move well i'm not [8:46] shocked i mean the president has signaled that he thinks these people have been treated unfairly and he [8:49] also has not hesitated to direct the justice department to take whatever steps he deems appropriate to either [8:55] vacate convictions drop pending prosecutions and the like but look i will say as someone who [8:59] generally respects the rule of law that what's really being questioned here by the justice [9:03] department is not the judgment of biden era prosecutors but frankly the judgment of jurors and [9:09] judges dozens of them hundreds of them throughout the system who all looked at these cases who looked at [9:14] the evidence who looked at the facts rendered convictions and then those convictions were passed upon in [9:19] most cases not all cases by a federal judge so i don't think it's quite right to say that these were all [9:24] political vendetta prosecutions these were tested they were means tested by the judges by the juries [9:29] and so to set them all aside doesn't doesn't sit right with me right i mean i spent two years being [9:35] on the team that prosecuted january 6 rioters as a very small part of that team there are a lot of us [9:38] involved but to see this is obviously horrifying and i think it lays the foundation for more extreme [9:43] acts you know one is the proud boys and the oath keepers trying to sue the government for monetary damages [9:48] which would be a great way for the trump administration to essentially fund paramilitary and militia [9:54] organizations that are allied to him but beyond the reach of the law i think it also is part of a [9:59] broader effort to rewrite the history of january 6 for a very specific reason which is that if [10:04] donald trump is able to get people to either forget about january 6 or worse yet condone january 6 [10:10] then he knows he's going to be able to convince people to accept any attack on democracy so this [10:15] isn't just about the past it's about the future brendan tom paula man you guys there's a lot going on in [10:20] your world so i appreciate you guys very much