WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday it would be a mistake for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to attend Supreme Court arguments in a case about President Donald Trump's attempt to fire a central bank governor.
The Supreme Court justices on Wednesday will consider the legality of Trump's bid to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who the courts have allowed to continue serving on the Fed while Trump's attempt to fire her is litigated.
The Associated Press
and other media reported on Monday that Powell planned to attend the court's oral arguments, a potent symbol of the administration's ongoing clash with the Fed following U.S. Department of Justice threats to pursue a criminal investigation of him. Powell called the threat a "pretext" to pressure him over monetary policy.
The effort to fire Cook over alleged misstatements on mortgage documents has been similarly slammed as cover for administration efforts to either get interest rates lowered or open more seats on the Fed's Board of Governors for Trump to fill.
"I actually think that's a mistake," Bessent said in an interview with CNBC, referring to Powell's plan to attend the hearing. "If you're trying not to politicize the Fed, for the Fed chair to be sitting there, trying to put his thumb on the scale, is a real mistake."
Critics of the Republican president have expressed concern that Trump's actions and rhetoric could jeopardize the independence of the U.S. central bank.
To be buffered from political influence, Fed governors serve 14-year terms, and can only be removed "for cause," a standard that has never been tested in court but is considered to exclude firing over policy disagreements.
Cook has not been charged with any civil or criminal violations over the mortgages she received before her time at the Fed began.
The tension over the Fed's independence has escalated as Trump nears the choice of a nominee to succeed Powell when his term as the central bank's top policymaker ends in May.
Bessent told CNBC a decision could come as early as next week.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Howard Schneider; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Paul Simao)
