Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo is among President Donald Trump’s most zealous propagandists, so much so that he reportedly considered making her his 2024 running mate. But even she seems hesitant to fall in line with the Trump administration’s apparent effort to strong-arm Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell, in an extraordinary video message released on Sunday night, said that the Fed had received Justice Department subpoenas on Friday which threatened a criminal indictment over his congressional testimony regarding ongoing renovations of its headquarters. He portrayed the move as pretextual, part of Trump’s long-running effort to pressure Powell to drastically lower interest rates and diminish the Fed’s independence.
Trump and his appointees have spent the last year refashioning the Justice Department into an institution that punishes his enemies and protects his friends, demolishing safeguards and purging dissidents along the way. The Powell investigation is in keeping with that trend, reportedly overseen by Jeanine Pirro, the longtime Fox host and fervent Trump ally whom he appointed as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Bartiromo, who typically demonstrates lockstep support for the president’s initiatives, seemed unusually skeptical of the Powell probe in a Monday morning discussion on her Fox Business show.
“It just feels like most on Wall Street do not want to see this kind of fight,” Bartiromo said. “I mean, you know, you’ve got a chairman who is at odds with the president of the United States. The president has very good points, certainly. But Wall Street doesn’t want to see this kind of investigation because it looks like the president is actually, you know, shoehorning rates, and now doing it through the DOJ.”
Bartiromo’s panelists were even more open in decrying the move.
Fox contributor Liz Peek said of the probe, “I don't like it. I think it's a unforced error by the Trump administration,” She explained that she agreed with the president on the cost of the Fed renovations and Powell’s performance, but added, “I don't really know what this is supposed to accomplish.”
“The president needs to kind of step back, quite honestly,” offered financial services consultant Kenny Polcari. “It's not in his job description to control interest rates. The Fed is an independent agency. We understand that. We know that. And I think that's what's causing a little bit of nervousness in the markets this morning, just about the fact that what could he really do, how could he really push this? I think he needs to back off and leave the Fed alone.”
Bartiromo then hedged, saying, “I know, but if he lied, he lied,” and suggesting it was important to get to the bottom of Powell’s comments to Congress.
Ken Mahoney, a financial asset manager, replied that while the cost of the renovations is sizable, this is “bad timing” given “the president’s other priorities,” noting that “most people probably wake up hoping that [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz was the one that was being indicted, not Jerome Powell.”
While Bartiromo’s willingness to use her Fox News and Fox Business shows to peddle insane conspiracy theories on Trump’s behalf has cost her network dearly, the president has rewarded her with multiple interviews and personal access, including an invitation to a splashy White House banquet honoring Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November.
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters
