Powell staying on as Fed board governor ‘violates all norms,’ Bessent says

Published May 3, 2026 3:52pm ET



Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it’s time for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to “move on” from the central bank after his term expires in mid-May, deriding Powell’s decision to stay aboard as a governor.

“It’s Chair Powell’s decision to stay as a governor if he wants. I think it violates all norms. They would say that one other governor did stay that was at the request of the president. The president has not requested that Chair Powell stay,” Bessent said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.

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