Trump believes he has authority to demote Fed's Powell: Bloomberg

[June 20, 2019]    (Reuters) - President Donald Trump believes that he has the authority to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and demote him to be a board governor, but is not planning to do so presently, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell arrives for a news conference following a two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, U.S., June 19, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

Trump is pressuring the Fed to reduce rates, saying in October that the central bank had "gone crazy" under Powell.

The Fed on Wednesday said it was ready to battle growing global and domestic economic risks with interest rate cuts beginning as early as next month. The central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for now.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.