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Fed Meeting Comes at Pivotal Moment for Central Bank's Independence
Fed Meeting Comes at Pivotal Moment for Central Bank’s Independence
The Trump administration has unleashed a barrage of attacks on the Federal Reserve, including a criminal investigation into its chair, Jerome H. Powell.
Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, has spend much of the past month under siege from President Trump. Caroline Gutman for The New York Times
By Tony Romm
Jan. 28, 2026
Updated 8:32 a.m. ET
For Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, the past month has probably felt like a political eternity. ... He has spent much of the time under siege from President Trump, who has resorted again to name-calling in a bid [to] force down interest rates.
He has been subjected to a new federal investigation, the likes of which forced the notoriously cautious Fed chair to raise a rare public alarm about the future of the central bank. ... And Mr. Powell has sat in the audience of the Supreme Court while it weighed the fate of one of his colleagues — a fellow Fed governor whom Mr. Trump has tried to oust on fraud charges that have never actually been filed or prosecuted.
All at once, the political forces that had gradually encircled the Fed throughout Mr. Trump’s first year back in office appeared to come to a head in the span of a few weeks, laying bare the stakes for a roughly century-old institution at the heart of the U.S. economy. And it’s in that rare context that the Fed began its two-day rate-setting meeting, which concludes Wednesday with Mr. Powell answering questions at his traditional post-meeting news conference — one that may prove livelier than usual.
The Fed is expected to leave borrowing costs unchanged this month, pausing a series of gradual reductions as it looks to tamp down inflation, which remains above its target. The decision is bound to anger Mr. Trump, who continues to insist that inflation has been defeated — and that affordability is a political hoax — while pining for rates as low as 1 percent.
{snip}
Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.
The Trump administration has unleashed a barrage of attacks on the Federal Reserve, including a criminal investigation into its chair, Jerome H. Powell.
Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, has spend much of the past month under siege from President Trump. Caroline Gutman for The New York Times
By Tony Romm
Jan. 28, 2026
Updated 8:32 a.m. ET
For Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, the past month has probably felt like a political eternity. ... He has spent much of the time under siege from President Trump, who has resorted again to name-calling in a bid [to] force down interest rates.
He has been subjected to a new federal investigation, the likes of which forced the notoriously cautious Fed chair to raise a rare public alarm about the future of the central bank. ... And Mr. Powell has sat in the audience of the Supreme Court while it weighed the fate of one of his colleagues — a fellow Fed governor whom Mr. Trump has tried to oust on fraud charges that have never actually been filed or prosecuted.
All at once, the political forces that had gradually encircled the Fed throughout Mr. Trump’s first year back in office appeared to come to a head in the span of a few weeks, laying bare the stakes for a roughly century-old institution at the heart of the U.S. economy. And it’s in that rare context that the Fed began its two-day rate-setting meeting, which concludes Wednesday with Mr. Powell answering questions at his traditional post-meeting news conference — one that may prove livelier than usual.
The Fed is expected to leave borrowing costs unchanged this month, pausing a series of gradual reductions as it looks to tamp down inflation, which remains above its target. The decision is bound to anger Mr. Trump, who continues to insist that inflation has been defeated — and that affordability is a political hoax — while pining for rates as low as 1 percent.
{snip}
Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.