Amid Federal Reserve Board succession and interest rate cuts talk, President Donald Trump is blasting "too late" Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for tanking the struggling housing market.
"Could somebody please inform Jerome 'Too Late' Powell that he is hurting the housing industry, very badly?" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday night.
"People can't get a Mortgage because of him. There is no Inflation, and every sign is pointing to a major Rate Cut. 'Too Late' is a disaster!"
The criticism came as the Fed prepared to release minutes from its late-July policy meeting, when it opted to leave rates unchanged despite dissents from Govs. Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, who argued that cuts were needed to protect a weakening labor market.
Days later, Labor Department data showed a sharp slowdown in hiring, a tick higher in unemployment, and downward revisions that erased more than 250,000 previously reported jobs. Analysts now see an 85% chance of a quarter-point cut in September.
The Fed minutes will be followed Friday by Powell's keynote address at the central bank's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, his last as chair before his term expires next year.
The Trump administration might be ready to announce Powell's replacement in September, perhaps in an effort to lead to Powell's early resignation.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week that candidate interviews will begin around Labor Day.
Bessent told CNBC that 11 contenders are in the mix, including current Govs. Bowman and Waller, former Fed officials Kevin Warsh and Larry Lindsey, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, White House economist Kevin Hassett, and Wall Street veterans Rick Rieder and David Zervos.
Trump has said he has narrowed his personal list to four names, praising Hassett and Warsh in particular.
Bessent added that a steep rate cut could jump-start homebuilding and ease housing costs, echoing Trump's own focus on mortgage affordability.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.