Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will head to Cambridge on Monday for a moderated discussion with Harvard University’s introductory Principles of Economics Class, an academic engagement that comes at a charged moment for the central bank.
The event is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Eastern time at Sanders Theatre. Powell will field questions from both a moderator and students in the audience. No prepared remarks are planned, making it one of just a few recent appearances where he will speak publicly without a script.
The Harvard class follows a turbulent stretch for Powell and the central bank. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into him in January, centered on testimony he gave to the Senate Banking Committee last June about cost overruns on the Fed’s headquarters renovation project. Powell pushed back, saying the probe had nothing to do with construction costs and was instead pressure from the Trump administration to cut interest rates.
Earlier this month, a federal judge quashed the subpoenas after a prosecutor acknowledged in court that no evidence of wrongdoing had been found. But U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro responded in a press conference where she called the ruling “untethered to the law” and said the Justice Department would appeal to keep the investigation open.
On monetary policy, the Fed held rates steady at its March meeting for the second consecutive time. But officials are navigating a difficult environment, inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, running near 3% with tariffs a meaningful contributor, while the conflict in Iran has added uncertainty to the growth outlook. The labor market, meanwhile, has been relatively stagnant for the year, and unemployment numbers in February were bleak with over 90,000 jobs lost.
Powell’s chairmanship officially ends on May 15. At his post-policy meeting press conference in March, he said he would serve as chair pro tem if his nominated successor, Kevin Warsh, hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate by that date. He also said he wouldn’t leave his seat on the Board of Governors, which runs until January 2028, until the Justice Department investigation is fully resolved.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, has said he would block Warsh’s confirmation until the legal matter is closed, making a smooth transition before May increasingly unlikely.
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