NBC’s Welker Asks Trump Point Blank If He Will Fire Key Official He Once Called ‘Enemy’

NBC’s Kristen Welker asked president-elect Donald Trump flat-out on Sunday whether or not he plans to remove or replace a key official he once described as “the enemy” and has previously threatened to remove: Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

Trump sat down with Welker in an extensive interview for the latest Meet the Press from NBC News, and among a host of topics, Welker at one point asked about the possibility that Trump might try to remove Powell from his post before his chairmanship is up.

Powell, the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve, was appointed by Trump to replace Janet Yellen in 2017. The two quickly diverged and Trump publicly criticized Powell repeatedly, even at one point asking in a tweet whether America’s bigger enemy was Xi Jinping of China or Chairman Powell.

Still, during the 2024 campaign Trump said he was not planning to try and force Powell out, telling Bloomberg he would “let him serve it out,” meaning the remainder of his current four year appointment, adding, “especially if I thought he was doing the right thing.”

Powell, for his part, was asked in November after Trump won whether he would leave early if Trump asked him to. “No,” Powell answered simply.

On Sunday, Welker asked Trump if he has any plans to push the issue, and Trump said he does not. But he also insisted that Powell would do so “if I told him to.”

WELKER: Before we move on to immigration, which I do want to talk about, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said he will not leave his post even if you ask him to. Will you try to replace Jerome Powell?

TRUMP: No, I don’t think so. I don’t see it. But, I don’t — I think if I told him to, he would. But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn’t. But if I told him to, he would.

WELKER: You don’t have plans to do that right now?

TRUMP: No, I don’t.

Watch the clip above via NBC News.