Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, told Newsmax, Wednesday, he is concerned the Federal Reserve is putting its finger on the scale for partisan reasons.
Hassett dismissed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's claim that tariffs are becoming inflationary.
"The idea that inflation is taking off because of tariffs is not visible in the data whatsoever," Hassett told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "I don't really know what he's talking about there."
Hassett said he's seen a pattern of "unfortunate" moves by the Federal Reserve that would make people suspicious of the board's motives.
"They had a big rate cut right before the last election, which could have possibly politically helped Kamala Harris," Hassett said. "The Fed was not active at all as inflation was running up to 7, even 9%. It was about 9% when they finally started raising rates to fight inflation.
"In the meantime, they were quiet about the runaway spending of the Biden administration."
Hassett said he hopes the Fed's models aren't working rather than that the board is acting with partisan motives.
"They should want to be data-driven, to preserve their mandate, to keep inflation low and unemployment low," Hassett said. "And they shouldn't be playing any partisan games. They've been saying that tariffs are going to cause inflation since President [Donald] Trump was inaugurated. And right now, inflation is the lowest it's been. Everybody is hopeful that they start to be data-driven."
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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