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U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell largely avoided questions about his personal future at the central bank or a criminal inquiry initiated by the Trump administration during a press conference on Wednesday, yet offered pointed guidance to the next Fed leader.
“Stay out of elected politics, don’t get pulled into elected politics. Don’t do it,” Reuter reported Powell telling reporters following the Fed’s latest monetary policy meeting.
The unusually intense session, which extended for more than 45 minutes, focused not on the usual economic outlook or interest rate guidance but on probing Powell about a Department of Justice investigation he referenced in an extraordinary video statement on January 11.
Reporters repeatedly pressed him to elaborate on the probe or reveal whether he intends to remain at the Fed after his term as chair ends in May. Powell declined, saying: “I really, once again, have nothing for you on that today,” a phrase he repeated several times. “There’s a time and place for these questions.”
Powell stressed that avoiding politics did not mean avoiding interaction with elected officials.
“Our window into democratic accountability is Congress, and it’s not a passive burden for us to go to Congress and talk to people, it’s an affirmative regular obligation,” he said. “If you want democratic legitimacy, you earn it by your interactions with our elected overseers.”
At the policy meeting itself, the Fed voted to maintain the federal funds rate target range at between 3.5% and 3.75%, in line with market expectations.
Powell offered minimal forward guidance, leaving markets uncertain over the prospect of a potential rate cut in June.
U.S. President Donald Trump is currently weighing candidates to succeed Powell as Fed chair.
Having appointed Powell early in his first term, Trump has since criticised the Fed and Powell personally, calling for aggressive rate reductions despite inflation remaining above the central bank’s 2% target.
Trump has made rate cuts a key criterion for his choice of Fed chair, raising concerns that the next appointee could compromise the bank’s statutory independence.
Speculation in betting markets points to BlackRock’s chief bond investment manager Rick Rieder as the leading contender, with other possibilities including White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Fed Governor Christopher Waller, and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh.
Powell also addressed his recent attendance at Supreme Court arguments over the attempted firing of Governor Lisa Cook, who faced allegations regarding mortgage applications prior to her nomination to the Fed.
“I would say that that case is perhaps the most important legal case in the Fed’s 113-year history,” Powell said. “And I, as I thought of that, I thought it might be hard to explain why I didn’t attend.”
Despite the probing questions and legal uncertainties, Powell insisted the press conference’s focus remained on the Fed’s policy decisions. “This is really about the press conference and the economy and what we did today,” he said. - January 29, 2026