According to ChainCatcher, citing data from Jinshi Data, US President Trump has hinted that he might seek to remove a Federal Reserve governor appointed by former President Biden from office if the appointment letter was signed by an automated signing machine. This is the latest move in his attempt to strengthen control over the central bank. However, this move is unlikely to succeed.
Trump's previous claim to rescind Biden's executive order signed by an automated signing machine yielded little result, aside from attracting attention. Any attempt to invalidate a Senate-approved appointment will almost certainly face legal challenges from the nominee.
Nevertheless, these remarks represent the latest intrusion by Trump into the independence of central banks.
"I've heard that those mandates may have been signed by automated machines. If they were signed by automated machines—maybe I'm mistaken, but we'll find out," Trump said at a political rally in Pennsylvania.
According to procedure, after a nominee is confirmed by the Senate, the president finalizes the appointment process by signing the letter of appointment to formally establish the nominee in federal office. Trump then implied that if any of his appointed officials also used an automated signing machine in a similar manner, he might "get rid of" that person. He asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was with him at the rally, to investigate the matter.
“Could you check it?” Trump continued. “Scott, okay, because I heard the automated signing machine might have signed all four, or some of them—let’s check two. So check this one.”
The Federal Reserve declined to comment.
