Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said President Donald Trump’s verbal attacks are undermining “the legitimacy and stature of institutions the public has traditionally had some confidence in.”
Her comments came in an interview in the Financial Times.
Since her departure, relations between Trump and the Fed have become rancorous as Trump has questioned current chair Jerome Powell for lifting interest rates, the Times noted.
Trump has said the Fed is raising rates too quickly and blunting the stimulus from deregulation and tax cuts.
But Yellen said of Trump: “I think he has the potential to undermine confidence in the institution.”
And she noted the Fed is not the only institution at risk from Trump’s criticism. The FBI and media also are being singled out by the president.
“I feel it ultimately undermines social and economic stability,” she said of the president’s criticism.
But Yellen said Trump never tried to influence her policy decisions when she was in charge of the Fed. And she maintained she has confidence in Powell.
Yellen believes Trump may have had second-thoughts about denying her another term.
“I have some reason to believe he wondered if it might be a mistake to replace me after meeting with me,” she said.
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