President Donald Trump may have appointed current Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during his first term in office, but he has not been shy about expressing just how disappointed he has been with Powell's recent job performance.

A top economic advisor to the president revealed to reporters on Friday that Trump and his team will seriously "study" whether or not to fire and replace Powell, largely because of his refusal to further lower key interest rates, according to the New York Post.

Powell, for his part, has suggested that Trump lacks the legal authority to remove him, has stated that he would refuse to leave if asked, and has insisted that he will serve out the remainder of his term, which expires in May 2026.

Advisor says Trump firing Fed chair is under consideration

On Friday, a reporter asked White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett if "firing Jay Powell is an option" now, unlike before, to which Hassett replied, "The president and his team will continue to study that matter."

Hassett was pressed on how the current situation differed from comments he'd made in a 2021 book, in which he'd suggested that President Trump firing Powell during his first term would have been a huge mistake that would have proven detrimental to the Fed's reputation, the dollar's credibility, and the stock market's stability.

"I think that at that time, the market was a completely different place. And, you know, I was referring to legal analysis that we had back then. And if there’s new legal analysis that says something different, then we need to rethink our response," Hassett said, likely referencing pending court cases on the president's authority to hire and fire purportedly "independent" officials at will.

The senior advisor went on to critique Powell and others for loudly complaining about how Trump's tariffs and tax cuts could be inflationary but said little about the significant upward impact the Biden-Harris administration's "runaway spending" had on inflation.

"And so if you think that it’s unacceptable for President Trump to be frustrated with the policy history of the Fed, then I think that you’ve got some explaining to do," Hassett said. "And so against that backdrop to have everybody who refused to warn about the runaway spending, you know, out there saying, 'Oh, this is going to be a catastrophe for inflation because of tariffs,' means that people need to, like, improve their models and improve their messaging."

Trump floats idea of firing Powell

The Post noted that Hassett's comments on Friday followed remarks to the media earlier in the day about Powell from President Trump, in which he asserted, "If we had a Fed chairman that understood what he was doing, interest rates would be coming down. He should bring them down."

Just one day earlier, Trump had similarly said to reporters of Powell, "The Fed really owes it to the American people to get interest rates down. That’s the only thing he’s good for. I am not happy with him. If I want him out of there he’ll be out real fast, believe me."

Early Thursday morning, in a Truth Social post, Trump referenced a report that the European Central Bank was about to cut rates yet again while the Federal Reserve under "Too Late" Powell continued to dither on the matter.

"Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS," he added. "Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!"

Trump accused Powell of "playing politics" with rate cuts

President Trump's critiques of Powell for not cutting interest rates further is nothing news, as he posted on Truth Social about two weeks ago, "This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always 'late,' but he could now change his image, and quickly."

"Energy prices are down, Interest Rates are down, Inflation is down, even Eggs are down 69%, and Jobs are UP, all within two months -- A BIG WIN for America," the president added. "CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!"