Former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn said on Thursday he doesn’t think President Donald Trump should comment on independent agencies, after the President’s repeated comments bashing the Federal Reserve.
Cohn, who left the White House in March, said in an interview that aired on CNBC that the Federal Reserve is “doing their job as an independent agency.”
When asked if he thought the President should be weighing in on the agencies, he replied: “I don’t think he should be making comments on any federal agency.”
On Tuesday, Trump said in an interview with Fox Business that the Fed is his “biggest threat.”
“The Fed is raising rates too fast and it’s independent so I don’t speak to [him],” Trump said, referring to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
“I’m not happy with what he’s doing,” Trump said of Powell. “It’s going too fast. Because, you looked at the last inflation numbers, they’re very low.”
Trump’s comments on Powell came just a week after he said that the Fed “is going wild,” blaming the central bank for a massive drop in the sock market.
“I mean, I don’t know what their problem is but they’re raising interest rates and it’s ridiculous,” Trump said last week in an interview with Fox News. “The Fed is going loco and there’s no reason for them to do it and I’m not happy about it.”
Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, also defended the Fed against Trump’s attacks, saying that his comments were “damaging to the Fed and to financial stability.”
“I really think it is not a desirable thing for a president to comment so explicitly on Fed policy,” Yellen said Monday. “Obviously, presidents can speak out if they choose to and give their opinions about policy, there’s no law against that, but I don’t think it’s wise and I do think the Fed has a strong reputation for acting in an independent and non-political way and I would not like to see that reputation damaged.”
Despite Trump’s criticism, CNN reported that members at the most recent Federal Reserve meeting argued for continuing with the plan of raising the rate once more in December.
“This gradual approach would balance the risk of tightening monetary policy too quickly, which could lead to an abrupt slowing in the economy and inflation moving below the committee’s objective,” according to minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting released Wednesday.
CNN’s Lydia DePillis, Donna Borak and Danielle Wiener-Bronner contributed to this report.
