Federal Reserve Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged, Resisting Trump’s Pressure to Lower Them

In economic news, the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday, resisting pressure from President Trump to lower them. This comes as the Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, are facing a criminal investigation launched by Trump’s ally, Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host who is currently the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. On Tuesday, Powell confirmed that he attended the Supreme Court’s oral arguments over Trump’s effort to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook.

Christopher Rugaber: “I wanted to ask — you know, you attended the Supreme Court hearing last week on the Lisa Cook case, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized that as political. Can you say why you attended and what you would say in response to the secretary’s criticism?”

Jerome Powell: “So, let me start with, I — I don’t respond to comments by other officials, whoever they may be. It’s just not appropriate to do that. I will tell you why I attended. I would say that that case is perhaps the most important legal case in the Fed’s 113-year history.”