Trump clashes with Fed chair during tour, reiterates no need to fire him

The Star

During their tour on July 24 of the Federal Reserve building under renovation, US President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell sparred over cost overruns of the central bank’s Washington headquarters.   Trump once again reiterated that there was no need to fire Powell over their dispute on lowering interest rates, as it would be a big move to remove him.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00This seems to be kind of a good look at the view of campus.

00:25Well, thank you very much.

00:31We're looking at the construction, and we're with the chairman, as you know.

00:36Chairman, come on over.

00:38And we're just taking a look at what's happening.

00:40You know, it's a tough construction job there.

00:43Indeed.

00:44One of the reasons why we wanted to see it was the overruns of the expenses.

00:47We wanted to figure out why.

00:49So we're taking a look, and it looks like it's about $3.1 billion.

00:55It went up a little bit, or a lot.

00:58So the $2.7 billion is now $3.1 billion.

01:01I'm not aware of that.

01:02It just came out.

01:04I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed.

01:08It just came out.

01:10I don't know who does that.

01:14You're including the Martin renovation.

01:15That's our entire capital.

01:16You just added in a third building, is what that is.

01:19That's a third building.

01:21It's a building that's being built.

01:23No, it was built five years ago.

01:25We finished Martin five years ago.

01:27It's part of the overall work.

01:29It's not new.

01:31So we're going to take a look.

01:33We're going to see what's happening.

01:35And it's got a long way.

01:37Do you expect any more additional cross-overruns?

01:40Don't expect them.

01:42We're ready for them.

01:43But we have a little bit of a reserve that we may use.

01:46But no, we don't expect to be finished in 2027.

01:50We're well along, as you can see.

01:52As a real estate developer, what would you do with a project manager who would be over budget?

02:00Generally speaking, what would I do?

02:03I'd fire him.

02:03Well, I'm here just really with the chairman.

02:06He's showing us around, showing us the work.

02:08And so I don't want to get that.

02:09I don't want to be personal.

02:11I just would like to see it get finished.

02:14And in many ways, it's too bad it started.

02:16But it did start.

02:17And it's been under construction for a long time.

02:22It's going to be a real long time.

02:25Because it looks like it's got a long way to go.

02:26Yes, sir.

02:27So.

02:27Mr. President, are there things the chairman can say to you today that would make you back

02:32off some of the earlier criticism?

02:34Well, I'd love him to lower interest rates.

02:36But other than that, what can I tell you?

02:39The country is doing really well.

02:41I just briefed the chairman on the deal we've made with Japan.

02:43Japan is putting up $550 billion in order to lower their tariffs a little bit.

02:49That way they have a little bit lower tariff.

02:50Our country is going to make a lot of money.

02:52We would be helped if interest rates would come down.

02:54But we're going to see how the board rules on that soon.

02:57I'd love to see them come down a lot.

02:59But we have a country that's thriving.

03:02We had a dead country one year ago.

03:05Today we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.

03:08And we'll get this one finished.

03:09Mr. President, do you think you're going to get your own column on Seoul?

03:17Just a move of the hand saying we're going to lower interest rates.

03:22You would save a trillion dollars a year.

03:25And there's nothing you can do to save that kind of money.

03:29Did the Fed chairman say why he's not?

03:31Well, we had a little talk about it.

03:33And I thought it was a very productive talk.

03:36He'll be able to tell you at his next meeting.

03:38But I will say that he did say the country is doing really well.

03:43And the country is really doing well.

03:45Yeah, please.

03:47Go ahead.

03:47How would you describe your talk with him?

03:49Would you say that the energy was tense?

03:52Did you come to...

03:53No, I didn't think it was tense.

03:54No, I thought we had a good meeting.

03:56I really...

03:56No, there was no tension.

03:58There was no tension.

03:59I think he had more tension with my great senator to the right.

04:02He's a pretty tough cookie.

04:03Is this project a viable offense for Jerome Powell?

04:07Look, I would love to see it completed.

04:09I don't want to put that in this category.

04:13It's a very complex thing that could have been made simple.

04:17I feel good about it.

04:18I mean, look, I have one dispute.

04:21And the dispute, there could be some things with money and, you know, where it comes from,

04:26how it's come from, how it's printed, where it's printed, all of the standard things with the Fed.

04:33But I just want to see one thing happen.

04:35Very simple.

04:35Interest rates have to come down.

04:37If the interest rates don't come down, we're knocking it out of the park with high interest rates.

04:43If interest rates come down, then that final little element kicks in.

04:46That's housing.

04:47And the sad part is that people, wonderful young people, young couples starting off,

04:52they can't get a mortgage because the rates are too high.

04:54Mr. President, if the rates are hurting families in the country,

04:57why let that keep going for another eight months?

04:59Why not just fire?

05:00Because to do that is a big move, and I just don't think it's necessary.

05:04And I believe that he's going to do the right thing.

05:06I mean, it may be a little too late, as the expression goes,

05:09but I believe he's going to do the right thing.

05:11The fact is, it's so big what's taking place in America.

05:16How old is the Mets put pressure on the world how old is it on?

05:20No, there's no pressure.

05:22No.

05:22We want to have, you know, his term comes up soon.

05:26I think he's going to do the right thing.

05:28Everybody knows what the right thing is.

05:30Even people that believed in, you know, the higher rates, they're all on board.

05:34They all want to see the interest rates come down.

05:36It's very important.

05:37Mr. President, if he doesn't do the right thing, he'll cut interest rates, as he said.

05:41I don't think we're going to do that.

05:42I don't think so.

05:44Thank you very much.

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