Bessent says Powell attending Supreme Court arguments on Lisa Cook is a mistake

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shouldn’t attend upcoming Supreme Court arguments regarding President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire one of the central bank’s governors, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday.

CNBC reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Powell plans to be present for oral arguments in a case that challenges Trump’s power to remove governor Lisa Cook.

“I actually think that’s a mistake,” Bessent told CNBC’s Joe Kernen in an interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “If you’re trying not to politicize the Fed, for the Fed chair to be sitting there trying to put his thumb on the scale, that’s a mistake.”

Trump said in August he was firing Cook from the Fed’s board on mortgage fraud allegations. Cook, however, remains in her post at the central bank. Trump has also threatened to fire Powell on multiple occasions.

Bessent’s comments come after Powell issued a rare video statement, disclosing he was under criminal investigation.

“This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress’s oversight role; the Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts,” Powell said in the Jan. 11 statement.