Trump blasts reports of Jamie Dimon as possible Fed chair, calls it ‘fake news’

[The Financial News] Donald John Trump, the former U.S. president who has recently been reported to be at odds with Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO often called the “king of Wall Street,” insisted he never offered Dimon the post of next chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump also said he plans to sue Dimon, claiming Dimon previously froze his accounts.
On the 17th (local time), Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social, writing, “Fake-news The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) ran a front-page story, without any verification, claiming that I offered Jamie Dimon the position of Chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed).” He went on, “This claim is completely false, and no such offer was ever made.”
Trump criticized the paper, saying, “Why didn’t WSJ call me to ask whether such an offer had been made? I would have immediately said ‘no,’ and that would have been the end of it.”
During Trump’s first term in office, Dimon regularly offered Trump economic advice on behalf of the U.S. financial sector. However, after Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, Dimon drew a line by closing bank accounts belonging to Trump, his family, and his businesses. Trump, who champions an America First policy, later in 2023 criticized Dimon as part of a camp that supports globalization. Since launching his second administration last year, Trump has also accused JPMorgan Chase & Co. of unfairly closing accounts belonging to conservative figures.
WSJ reported on the 14th that Dimon had expressed support for Trump’s policy direction since last year and was seeking to repair his relationship with Trump. According to the outlet, Trump met Dimon at the White House several months ago and offered him the job of next Fed chair, but Dimon took the remark as a joke.
In his post on the 17th, Trump also wrote, “I’ve heard talk that I supposedly offered him the Treasury secretary job, which is a position he would be very interested in.” Trump added, “The problem is that Scott Bessent is doing a fantastic job in that role. He is a superstar.” Trump continued, “Why would I give that position to Dimon? There was absolutely no such offer, and I have never even thought about it.” He went on to criticize the paper, saying, “WSJ needs to do a much better job of fact-checking. If it does not, its already damaged credibility will continue to plummet.”
Earlier, in its report on the 14th, WSJ analyzed that although Dimon had tried to mend fences with Trump, the relationship soured again after Trump recently launched a public attack on Jerome Hayden Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve. In remarks released on the 13th, Dimon pointed to this month’s threat by U.S. prosecutors to indict Powell, warning that such actions, which undermine the Fed’s independence, would actually push inflation and interest rates higher. That same day, Trump countered, saying, “Dimon is wrong. There is nothing wrong with what I am doing, and we currently have a bad Fed chair.” He added, “The benchmark interest rate should be lower. Dimon probably wants high interest rates so he can make more money.” Trish Wexler, a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase & Co., told U.S. media outlets on the 17th, “We should have corrected this more carefully before the WSJ article was published,” and clarified that Trump did not offer Dimon the Fed chairmanship.
In the same post on the 17th, Trump said, “Within the next two weeks, I will file a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. over its unfair and improper suspension of my financial transactions following the January 6, 2021 protest at the Capitol.” Referring to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which he lost and which served as a trigger for the Capitol riot, Trump again asserted that “that election was rigged.”

pjw@fnnews.com Jongwon Park Reporter