President Donald Trump has no plans "presently" to dismiss Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell from his post, chief White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said today, despite Trump's unrelenting attacks on the central bank's monetary policy.
Speaking at a CNBC event in Washington, Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said there is "no effort to remove him.
""I will say that unequivocally, at the present time, yes, he's safe," he said.
Kudlow said the Fed should be independent "but that word independent, it doesn't mean they operate from another planet." He was asked about recent comments by economist Arthur Laffer that monetary policy should be subject to greater control by Congress and the president.
"That's an interesting point of view," Kudlow said. "That's a good point of view."
Kudlow said he led the search for two open seats on the Fed's Board of Governors — the president announced nominees for the posts earlier this month — and he said there was no shortage of candidates, including one individual he declined to name who was already a high-ranking official in the Fed system.
"One outstanding candidate was quite interested, but he's already running a Federal Reserve Bank, and he wondered if he could be a governor and continue to be president of a reserve bank," Kudlow said.
Though Kudlow declined to name the candidate, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said last month that he had been approached by the White House about serving on the Fed board in Washington.
One of Trump's Fed nominees is Christopher Waller, director of research at the St.
Louis Fed. The other is Judy Shelton, the U.S. executive director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, who has endorsed a return to the gold standard.Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine