Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Blindsided as Ex-Fed Chair Confronts Him

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Former Fed Reserve Chair Jay Powell used his first public appearance since stepping down as fed chair in his speech in accepting the JFK “Profile in Courage Award”, to blast Trump but in his inimitable modest way. Popok explains how Powell uses the speech to blast Trump and explains the reason that he bucked tradition and has refused to step down from the Board early after his term was over. Smalls: Head to https://Smalls.com/legalaf and use promo code: LEGALAF at checkout for 60% off your first order PLUS free shipping! Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor,

free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca.

Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for Calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. It took a speech in the last 24 hours as Jay Powell accepted the JFK Profile Encourage Award for him not backing down to Donald Trump and not allowing the Federal Reserve's integrity and independence for 113 years to be destroyed. It took a speech in the last 24 hours for Jay Powell to reveal in his own modest but forceful way with tremendous gravitas, why he bucked tradition and decided not to step down from the Federal Reserve and serve out his complete term until 2028, even though his chairmanship ended on May 15th.

See, usually Federal Reserve chairs step down rather than be sort of the, you know, the third wheel on a date, so speak, and sit there while there's a new chairman, in this case, Kevin Warsh. but because Donald Trump continued to bash Jay Powell, called him a criminal, attacked him publicly to try to get him off, to try to get control of the seven-member board of governors in order to try to control interest rates, because of all that, because of the attack on the very existential nature of the independence of the Federal Reserve, Jay Powell said no, and now we know why. by agreeing to accept and attend the JFK Profile and Courage Award given by the Kennedy family, along with others like governors and elected officials who resisted the Trump assault on democracy. In fact, Jay Powell may be one of the only people to ever get the Profile and Courage Award who's not an elected official in that way. But when you hear the introduction, which of course,

Jay Powell knew what the introduction was going to be by Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of the president, who is running for Congress himself. But you hear the introduction and then some of the clips from Jay Powell, you're going to understand that you're going to know everything you need to know about Jay Powell's rebuke of Trump and the way he does it so artfully. Now, before I get to the speech, that's just remember who Jay Powell is. The night that it was announced that the Department of Justice over the holidays was going to criminally investigate him and the Federal Reserve related to cost overruns about a construction remodeling of the 100-year-old Federal Reserve campus,

he came out swinging in a way I'd never seen. I mean, he's a modest chap, as my late mother would say. He is, but not to be trifled with, an intellectual powerhouse with. which, you know, when you see him and it's all five foot eight of them, you know, if he weighs 130 pounds, I'd be surprised. You're like, hmm, this guy is a powerhouse. Here's him coming out on social media the night it was announced about the importance of the independence of the Federal Reserve.

And that is the through line, the thread that you're going to hear again in the speech for the last 24 hours. Play the clip. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president. This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions,

or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation. I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. In every case, I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum employment. Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people.

Donald Trump thought he was going to get rid of that guy. He was going to accuse that guy of crimes. He was going to destabilize the Federal Reserve. No way. Seven member board, four were picked by Democrats. Well, four were against Trump, I guess, because Powell was picked by Trump, and three weren't. Three were kind of Republicans. Got to get a majority to control the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to then ultimately control

the rest of the Federal Open Markets Committee, a 12-member committee, seven on the Board of Governors, five picked from a rotating group of Regional Reserve presidents, which are controlled by the board. Trump tried two destabilizers, one we're still waiting on. When after Lisa Cook claiming she committed mortgage fraud because she bought another condo in Atlanta and got a favorable interest rate, really, that firing or attempted firing got blocked by courts,

including the Supreme Court. And any minute now, hopefully before this video goes up, we're going to get the result from the Supreme Court as to whether Trump can just take away her 15-year term, which she has a fifth. Amendment right in without any due process at all by social media post. He also then went after Jay Powell. Now, here is the introduction of Jay Powell by Jack Schlossberg in the last 24 hours at the award ceremony. And I think this is going to clue you in to where Jay Powell is going to go next.

Play the intro. When President Trump's second term began, Trump continued to do what no president had ever done and publicly pressure Powell to cut interest rates. It was a campaign. that began years earlier, a tweet when it was still called a tweet from 2019 from President Trump asks, who is our biggest bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Shee? This year, Trump escalated the situation when his Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell with subpoenas and opened a criminal investigation under the false pretenses of an investigation into the Fed's renovation and Powell's related testimony. The true aim was thinly veiled.

Trump was using the DOJ to intimidate Powell for his refusal to follow orders and cut rates. In response, Powell took the extraordinary and brave step of explaining as much to the public in a video, directly and forcefully resisting the president and the Department of Justice. As we have seen over the last decade, and especially over the last two years,

many others submit to this type of intimidation, but not Jay Powell. Although his term as Fed Chair has ended, his courage continues. He chose to remain on the Fed's board of governors moving forward. As he said, quote, I'm literally staying because of the actions that have been taken. I had long planned to be retiring.

The things that have happened in the last three months have left me no choice, but to stay until I see them through, at least that long. We are also grateful that you are saying. If you love your cat the way I do, you'll spend hundreds of dollars on towers and toys and cute little outfits. But a lot of us are still feeding our cat ultra-processed food with mystery ingredients in it. That's why I love Smalls.

Smalls makes fresh protein-packed cat food using preservative-free human-grade ingredients. You'd actually recognize and they deliver it right to your door. And honestly, the difference is real. Better energy, shiny your coats, fewer hairballs, and yes, way less disgusting litter box situations because cats are supposed to eat real protein, not a bunch of fillers and junk. Plus, Forbes ranked small as the best overall cat food. And after switching to Smalls, 88% of cat owners reported overall health improvements for

their cat. So stop serving your little carnivore, a bowl of processed shortcuts for a limited time because you're a legal AF listener. Get 60% off your first order plus free shipping and free treats for life. When you head to smalls.com slash legal AF. that's 60% off your first order plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com slash legal a.F. Now, there were two things that J-PAL wanted to get across this audience in rebuking Donald Trump without ever using the T word.

One, the independence of the Federal Reserve is all that he cares about and trying to stop administrations from going after them and going after the Fed because it will destabilize and take away. the currency of the Federal Reserve to protect our democracy and its capitalist system. Play the clip about the independence. What the public has every right to expect is that we will make our decisions based only on our best economic analysis of what would most benefit the people we serve. We do not take into account the fortunes of any political party or politician in making those decisions. Like so many other institutions, the Fed has been undergoing a stress test.

Congress wisely chose to insulate monetary policy decisions from political pressure. All other advanced economy nations have done the same. Our federated structure is a bit complex with reserve banks and the board and all that, but the legal protections that support the non-political conduct of monetary policy are straightforward. Fed governors and reserve, Bank Presidents hold office with legal protection against removal. We serve long terms unrelated to the four-year presidential election cycle. When a new administration takes office, its role is to fill vacancies on the Board of Governors and for Chair and vice chair, as and when those vacancies

arise subject in all cases to Senate confirmation. Administrations play no role in the selection or oversight of the 12 Reserve Bank presidents. These protections have served the public well, and administrations from both political parties have respected them. If any administration finds a way to remove Fed officials over policy differences, then future administrations will do so as well. The public would lose faith that the central bank will make decisions based only on what's best for all Americans. The Fed's credibility would be lost. That credibility enables the Fed to support a strong and stable economy for the benefit of American families and businesses. Credibility has been built and sustained over many decades, and we have a duty to safeguard that priceless asset for our fellow

citizens and for generations to come. Now that stands in sharp contrast to Kevin Warsh, who got picked to replace Jay Powell and has been serving there since the 15th of May. He's somebody that said, I'm going to lower interest rates, but he's already hit roadblocks in the first two weeks, where other members of the Federal Reserve said this is not the time to lower interest rates, given how upside down the economy is run by Donald Trump. Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, thought he was going to do like some sort of counterweight, a call in response to Jay Powell.

Here's him trying to defend. Kevin Warsh as he kind of indirectly tries to undermine Jay Powell, which of course he can't do. I mean, of the two people, the one that's closest to impeachment and removal is Treasury Secretary Jay Scott Besson. Play the Besson clip about Kevin Warsh. So the president has publicly said that you are the reason that he has not fired Chairman Jay Powell. Will you make that case again to him? Look, I am the confident that the process that we've laid out in terms of Kevin Warsh, becoming the next Fed chair, he's going to have the hearing on the 21st of this month.

He's a great candidate. We know that the Republicans on the Senate Finance or Senate Banking Committee are aligned in that. And I am very optimistic that Kevin Warsh will be the chair of the Fed on time. Now, back to the speech. Here's Jay Powell. And here, and when you listen to it closely, you'll now know why he could not step down. Give Donald Trump the immediate majority

on the Federal Reserve, destroy its independence. Play the clip on the democracy. As Americans, we are motivated by the belief that freedom and democracy greatly enhance human fulfillment. The work to preserve and strengthen our own democracy can be noisy, frustrating at times, and embattled. Partisan political differences are normal, indeed essential in a thriving democracy. But we ought to be united in our commitment to the higher principles that define our nation.

Chief among them is respect for the rule of law. As John Adams of Massachusetts wrote, as John Adams wrote, ours is a government of laws, not of men. Our public institutions carry us forward through change. These institutions embody our commitment to freedom, democracy, and service of the public good. The philosopher Edmund Burke warned that democratic institutions take much time, effort, and patience to build, but can be torn down all too quickly. It is essential that we preserve what is good in our institutions,

even as we strive to improve them. Well, we will have political differences. At the end of the day, we all love this wonderful country and want what is best for it and for all of our fellow Americans. And this is the reason that Jay Powell did what most other Federal Reserve chairs never would do. He did not step off the Federal Reserve when his term wasn't up, but his federal chairmanship was up. Most of them would have stepped off. And here's the reality.

If Donald Trump had just shut his big fat trap, stop attacking Lisa Cook and Jay Powell, just let nature take its course. Jay Powell would have stepped off on the 15th of May. He would have likely gone off into retirement and stopped or onto corporate boards. He would have not stayed on. Donald Trump would have got another vote. And even with or without Lisa Cook

and the result of the Supreme Court, he would have control of the Fed. If he wanted it, which he did. But no, he attacked mercilessly, Jay Powell, earning him the profile and courage award and now he's not going anywhere until Donald Trump leaves office. They're going to leave office together. Go off into the sunset. It's like the it's like the roadrunner and the other one. What was the major cartoon enemies between each other? They're always chasing each other.

Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. Okay, well J. Powell is the roadrunner and Donald Trump's while E. Coyote, if you know what I mean. So I'm glad you're here. Hit the free subscribe button on Legal AF YouTube channel. Come over to our substack as well and help us to continue our pro-democracy channel. Until my next report, this is Michael. Can't get your fill of Legal AF. Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, morning a. F. What else? All the other contributors

from LegalAF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where legal A.F on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.