Fmr. Trump adviser talks whether Fed should remain apolitical
Independent Institute senior fellow sits down with Madison Mills and Brad Smith to discuss her experience advising former President Donald Trump on his economic policies and what she would like to see from a second Trump administration if he is reelected in November. Trump originally nominated Shelton for the Federal Reserve Board in 2019 before the nomination process stalled in 2020 and President Biden withdrew the nomination after taking office in 2021. Trump has disagreed with a lot of the Federal Reserve's policies and has stated that he would like to have more of a say in the Fed's monetary policy during a second administration. "I think he had a right as president, as I think every citizen has a right, to disagree with some of the things the Fed was doing," Shelton tells Yahoo Finance. She notes that Trump particularly disagreed with Fed Chair Jerome Powell's raising interest rates during his term despite seeing record-low unemployment: "The Fed was preemptively raising rates, and his complaint was why are you unnecessarily curtailing growth when there's no inflation present? And it did cause the Fed to reevaluate their framework for deciding when to raise rates." Shelton notes that if presidents should influence Fed policy, it would ultimately require Congress to have more oversight on the central bank. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief. This post was written by Melanie Riehl
