Up First from NPR
Trump Wants Powell Out, Administration Risks Contempt, and Homegrowns Are Next
Thu, 17 Apr 2025
President Trump is feuding with Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. This all comes as Americans are feeling gloomier about the economy. Also, a judge found probable cause to find the government in criminal contempt, ruling that the Trump administration willfully disregarded an order to turn back airplanes carrying deported migrants to El Salvador, and President Trump says he is looking into whether the U.S. can detain citizens who commit crimes in overseas prisons.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Gerry Holmes, Eric Westervelt, Rafael Nam, Janaya Williams and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is David Greenburg.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What is President Trump saying about Jerome Powell?
I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. A judge says the Trump administration ignored his orders to turn around two planes carrying alleged gang members to detention centers in El Salvador. And President Trump says he would like to find a way to lock up Americans abroad.
That's the real fear that we have now is that he is going to try to evade judicial review of deportations of U.S. citizens.
Can the U.S. government actually do that? Stay with us. We'll give you all the news you need to start your day.
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President Trump is feuding with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said Powell's termination, quote, cannot come soon enough, unquote. Now, it isn't clear whether the president was calling for the Fed chair to be dismissed immediately or at the end of his term in May of 2026.
In his post, Trump said Powell was, quote, too late and wrong, unquote, on interest rates. This all comes as Americans are feeling gloomier about the economy.
Let's talk to NPR's Scott Horsley. So, Scott, what can you tell us about the tension between Trump and Powell?
Well, President Trump has been urging the Fed for some time to lower interest rates. He always wants to see borrowing costs as low as they can be. But the president's making that more difficult, actually, with his trade war. Chairman Jerome Powell gave a speech in Chicago yesterday where he warned that Trump's tariffs will almost certainly push prices in the U.S. higher, at least in the short term.
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Chapter 4: Can the U.S. government detain citizens overseas?
Now, NPR reached out to three prominent conservative legal scholars and also contacted three leading conservative legal think tanks. All declined to comment on this policy idea or they didn't respond. And we could also find no instances of GOP leaders in the House or Senate commenting publicly on this proposal to deport Americans. We reached out to them for comment and got no response.
Okay, so Brian, if the Trump administration moves forward with this idea, I mean, do we know what the deportation of American citizens would look like?
We don't. President Trump and Attorney General Bondi have said this would only include violent criminals, but we don't have details. One concern raised by David Beer, he's at the Libertarian Cato Institute, is that Trump could move forward with this without offering a lot of clarity, even if courts and judges object.
That's the real fear that we have now is that He is going to try to evade judicial review of deportations of US citizens.
One more thing. A Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor published an opinion last week saying recent legal arguments made by the Trump administration suggest the federal government already believes it can, and I'm quoting the justice here, deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens. So we'll be watching this to see where it goes. All right. That's NPR's Brian Mann. Brian, thanks.
Thank you, Abe. And that's up first for Thursday, April 17th. I'm A. Martinez.
And I'm Michelle Martin. The NPR app lets you keep public radio in your pocket. You'll find a mix of local, national, and international news, plus the best podcasts from the NPR network. Download the NPR app in your app store.
Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jerry Holmes, Eric Westervelt, Rafael Nam, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Janaya Williams. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas, and our technical director is David Greenberg. Join us again tomorrow.
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