Trump reportedly pushed Mnuchin to pressure Fed's Powell on economic stimulus

Steven Mnuchin.
(Image credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

During a tense meeting Monday in the Oval Office, President Trump pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to urge Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to figure out a way to stimulate the economy, three White House officials with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

With coronavirus fears causing the stock market to plummet, Trump wants Powell to step in and do something to reverse this, the officials said. Mnuchin was a driving force behind Trump's decision to nominate Powell in 2017, but since then, Trump has been vocal about his displeasure with Powell and his reticence to cut interest rates.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.